Grief is a natural reaction to loss and stems from many different situations and experiences where loss is felt. It is a strong and overwhelming emotion for people, accompanied by great sadness and acute pain and can be both a personal, collective and universal experience. Some examples of loss include the death of a loved one, the ending of an important relationship, the loss of a pet, job loss, retirement, a miscarriage, or loss of independence through age/disability or from a terminal diagnosis you or someone you love may have received.
On a collective or universal level, grief usually occurs when a community, society, town, village, city, nation, or the whole world experiences extreme change or loss. These may be the loss of a public figure, war, natural disasters and instances where nations have been oppressed and their human rights infringed upon.
In any of these experiences, you may experience all kinds of difficult and unexpected emotions, such as shock, disbelief, anger, guilt, and profound sadness and anguish. There are many layers to grief and how it can affect you and your life. The pain of grief can also disrupt your physical health, making it difficult to eat, sleep, interact with people, or even focus and think straight. These are all normal reactions to loss.
Grieving is an extremely individual experience. The most important thing to remember is that there is no right or wrong way to grieve. Everyone is unique in their genetic makeup and will cope differently to others. Your coping style, your life experiences, your faith/spirituality and how significant the loss is to you, are important factors to take note of, as they too will affect your grieving process.
Coping with Grief
Firstly, it is important to be kind and patient with yourself. As your emotions will be running high, it is important to acknowledge them and allow yourself to feel and express your emotions. Some of you may openly express your emotions, others may not. One thing is for certain, there may be many of you that do not cry when sadness and grief is felt. What must be acknowledged and understood is that a person that does not cry, still feels the sadness and pain just as deeply as someone who does cry.
Give yourself the time and space to do what you can without guilt. Your physical body will also be impacted and may need extra rest. It is important not to neglect your physical health as taking care of yourself physically helps you support yourself emotionally.
Although there may be stages in grieving, there are no fixed stages in the grieving process. It is important to allow yourself to experience the grieving process in the way that it unfolds naturally for you.
Energy Healing for Grief
Energy healing can play a valuable role in supporting people during their grieving process. As grief is a natural human process, it is not an energy practitioner’s job to ‘heal’ the grief. A healer is there to hold space for you and offer a safe and sacred space where there is comfort,
compassion and love.
The natural flow of your energy field or aura, is to keep moving. So, your emotions are meant to flow in your energy field, not get stuck. Therefore, healers help keep the energy of grief moving through you, so it does not get stuck in your energy field or your physical body.
A healer is there to offer support and help you acknowledge where you are at emotionally and to understand that grief has its own timetable. You are not weird or wrong if you do not mourn for a specific period or particular time frame. For some it may be months, for others it could be years. Every single individual will process in their own time.
Healers also assist in spiritual guidance, which comes to the forefront for many during this time. During the grieving process, you will find that it is very common to look deeper within yourself and reassess your life, the meaning of life and what is truly important to you. Having spiritual guidance and someone to talk to when these questions arise is very beneficial as it allows you to have a deeper insight into yourself and your life. This is a time when deep inner and spiritual growth can occur, allowing the natural flow of further discovery and acceptance and the energy to move forward.
Grief is a profoundly emotional time and although challenging, it can be a profoundly transformative process. It can destroy you or transform you into a better human being. For example, becoming more kind, thoughtful and grateful.
As much as grieving is a deeply sad and challenging time, you are all here to grow through your emotions and experiences. It is a time and opportunity to evolve and grow through the hardships which can further enrich your lives, even though certain loved ones are no longer here and/or other parts of your lives change dramatically. It takes time but you will learn to live with it.
So please, give yourself permission to slow down and connect to yourself on a deeper level. Take the time to feel into the discomfort of your emotions and the situation rather than pushing through it with distractive behaviour. Let yourself go with your own flow and the unfolding of your grieving process, with the help and assistance of who and what you believe is best for you.
Something will grow from all you are going through and it will be you.
Karina Barca, Our Expert
Regular Column: Empowered Healing
Karina Barca is a Melbourne-based Medium, Healer, Psychic, Reiki Master Teacher, Mentor, Forensic Healing Practitioner and Facilitator of ‘Sistahood Sundays’. Through her own healing and empowerment journey, her passion became very clear. To serve, inspire and assist all who want to grow, heal, and evolve.
- Karina Barca, Our Expert
- Karina Barca, Our Expert
- Karina Barca, Our Expert
- Karina Barca, Our Expert
- Karina Barca, Our Expert
- Karina Barca, Our Expert
- Karina Barca, Our Expert
- Karina Barca, Our Expert
- Karina Barca, Our Expert
- Karina Barca, Our Expert
