Healing the Loss

21/08/2025

Healingtheloss.com

21/08/2025

No matter how long it has been since they lost their loved one. Saying nothing is hurtful.

It’s hard to know what to say to someone who is grieving. But don’t let fear paralyze you into inaction.

Megan Devine, psychotherapist and author of “It’s Ok That You’re Not OK,” shares the impact that silence can have:

“Because we're so weird and so awkward about grief, one of the things that can happen is, as a support person, you feel like, ‘I don't wanna say the wrong thing.’ So, you say nothing.

Saying nothing is a terrible, terrible thing to do to your grieving person.

For the grieving person what that feels like is abandonment. So, not only have they lost their person but they've lost their people.”

Remember that “speaking” grief can be done with actions in addition to or in place of words. Give a hug. Sit with someone in silence. Mow the lawn. Drop off food. Show up.

For more: https://speakinggrief.org/get-better-at-grief/supporting-grief/be-authentic

20/08/2025

20/08/2025

"Forward"

20/08/2025

Some endings will never make sense & certain losses remain tragic beyond comprehension.

Grief asks us not to solve the unanswerable, but to practice living inside mystery with tenderness and courage for what we cannot change.

What are your thoughts?

With love,
Marie

19/08/2025

After the shock of loss has dissipated from everyone else's lives, those closest to the person who died are often left feeling alone. Everyone else returns to normalcy, while we, the grievers, are left to navigate a new normal. The flowers stop. The well-wishing cards & dinner drop-offs. And the comments like “isn’t it time you move on” start to creep into conversations.⁠
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If you want to continue to support a griever AFTER the first year, here are a few things you can do⁠:
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1) Set a calendar reminder for important dates⁠.
2) Send a card or text on those dates⁠.
3) Ask about their loved one even on non-significant dates⁠.
4) If you say you’ll be there, then be there.
5) Allow them to feel what they feel, whenever they feel it⁠.
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Whilst I am so grateful for all of the support and love we received in the first year after my Mum died, it’s the support I continue to receive, even 13 years on, that has been the most profound.⁠
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How else can we support a grieving friend after the first year? Comment your thoughts and ideas below ⤵⁠
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✍️ Words and art by growwithgrief⁠hq
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19/08/2025

I found this writing by Dr. Joanne Cacciatore very powerful.

19/08/2025

A Safe Harbour

Do not rush or judge a grieving heart,
for sorrow is an ocean.
Sit quietly with those who grieve
and listen without haste or expectation.

Hear the echoes of their love,
the memories that swell like tides,
the tears that rise and fall
across a world that suddenly feels so vast.

Offer your presence as a steady shore,
your silence as a gentle shelter,
your heart as a mirror reflecting only care.

To hold them in the stillness,
to breathe alongside their sorrow,
is a rare and wonderful gift,
a quiet light in the shadowed spaces.

There is no rush, no path to force;
to be there is enough,
to offer a safe harbour to grieve,
until sorrow feels less heavy,
and the heart a little lighter.

~ 'A Safe Harbour' by Spirit of a Hippie

✍️ Mary Anne Byrne

~ Art by Anne Virlange

14/08/2025

Healingtheloss.com

12/08/2025

12/08/2025

💛 .mahr