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Five Assumptions That May Complicate Grief
1. Life prepares us for loss.
More is learned about loss through the experience than through the preparation. Living may not provide preparation for survival. Handling grief resulting from the death of a loved one is a process that takes hard work. The fortunate experience of a happy life may not have built a complete foundation for handling loss. Healing is built through perseverance, support and understanding.
The bereaved need others: Find others who are empathetic.
2. Family and friends will understand.
If a spouse dies, children lose a parent, a sibling loses a sibling, a parent loses a child and a friend loses a friend. Only one loses a spouse. Each response is different according to the relationship. Family and friends may not be capable of understanding each other thoroughly.
Consider the story of Job's grief in the Bible. Job's wife did not understand his grief. His friends did their best work the first week, when they just sat and did not speak. It was when they began to share judgments of Job and his life that they complicated Job's grief. Allowance must be made so that grief may be experienced appropriately, to be processed in its time.
The bereaved need others: Find others who are accepting.
3. The bereaved should be finished with their grief within one year or something is wrong.
During the first year the bereaved will experience one of everything for the first time alone: Anniversaries, birthdays, other occasions. Therefore grief will last for at least one year. The cliché "the healing hands of time," does not go far enough to explain what must take place. The key to handling grief is in what work is done over time. It takes time and work to decide what to do and where to go with the new and changed life that is left behind.
The bereaved need others: Find others who are patient.
4. Along with the end of grief's pain comes the end of the memory.
At times, the bereaved may embrace the pain of grief believing it is all they have left. The lingering close bond to the deceased is sometimes thought to maintain the memories while, in fact, just the opposite is true. In learning to let go and live a new and changed life memories tend to come back more clearly. Growth and healing come in learning to enjoy memories.
The bereaved need others: Find new friends and interests.
5. The bereaved should grieve alone.
After the funeral service is over the bereaved may find themselves along. They may feel as though they are going crazy, painfully uncertain in their world of thoughts and emotions. The bereaved begin to feel normal again when the experience is shared with others who have lost a loved one. Then, in reaching out, the focus of life becomes forward.
The bereaved need others: Find others who are experienced.
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