Stories by Alan Wolfelt

The five natural instincts for support and companionship demonstrated by wild geese may help us find ways to support each other in times of grief.

To heal in grief is to become whole again, to integrate your grief into yourself and to learn to continue your changed life with fullness and meaning.

Acknowledging and embracing these necessary contradictions is part of our work of mourning. It’s a question of balance and back-and-forth.

"Count your blessings, for even while experiencing pain and hurt, there are things that make life worth living."

You can find continued meaning in the holidays and in life. You can continue to live and love fully. You must grieve but you can also celebrate.

People tend to use the two words interchangeably. But there is a crucial distinction.

It’s this back-and-forth of grief that provides momentum for the journey.

When it comes to mourning and how others can best help us, there’s no one right way. Identify and ask for the most effective grief support for you.

Ceremonies can help people who feel stuck in their grief get unstuck and provides them with continued momentum toward healing.

You deserve to live and love fully again. You deserve to experience meaning for the rest of your days.

Peer mentors have the opportunity to be companions, to listen with our hearts. I hope you choose to see your heart opening to people experiencing grief.

Walking with thousands of people in grief has resulted in an “educated heart” that has led to an acceptance of my role as a responsible rebel.

Often messages people in grief are given are in opposition to stillness. The paradox for many grievers as they try to move forward, they often lose their way.

Companioning the bereaved is not about assessing, analyzing, fixing or resolving another’s grief. Instead, it is about being totally present to the mourner.

How do you ever find your way out of the wilderness of your grief? You don't have to dwell there forever, do you?

This article will guide you in ways to turn your concern for the grandparents grief into positive action.

Sadness is a hallmark symptom of grief, which in turn is the consequence of losing something we care about.

What higher purpose is there in life but to give and receive love? Love is the essence of a life of abundance and joy.

As helpers, we need to provide support and acceptance so that survivors can grieve in healthy ways.

Why rituals are essential and how you can continue to use the power of ritual to help yourself and your family heal, even long after the death and funeral.

As a bereaved person, you have certain rights that others must not take away from you. In fact, it is the very upholding of these rights that makes healing possible.

Love is a sacred partnership of communion with another human being. You take each other in, and even when you are apart, you are together.

In opening to the presence of the pain of your loss, in being willing to gently embrace the pain, you demonstrate the courage to honor the pain.

If there is ever a time in life when we need others to support and nurture us, it’s when someone we love dies.

You have been “torn apart” and have some very unique needs. Among these needs is to nurture yourself physically, emotionally, cognitively, socially, and spiritually.

You have been “torn apart” and have some very unique needs. Among these needs is to nurture yourself physically, emotionally, cognitively, socially, and spiritually.

And as you live in this painful place, you come to learn that you must surrender to your grief, sit in your wound, and make space for your lost self.

Misconceptions about grief are common in our society because we tend not to openly mourn or talk about grief and mourning.

Someone you love has completed suicide. In your heart, you have come to know your deepest pain. To be bereaved literally means to be torn apart.

Your feelings of loss will not completely disappear, yet they will soften, and the intense pangs of grief will become less frequent.

As you approach the holidays, remember: grief is both a necessity and a privilege. It comes as a result of giving and receiving love.