Personal Healing Tips for Overcoming Grief That Truly Work

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Grief isn’t something you “get over.” It’s something you learn to live with, reshape, and eventually rise from. In the early days after the loss, everything can feel heavy and disorienting—sleep breaks, appetite changes, emotions fluctuate, and life suddenly looks foreign.

That’s why many people search for healing tips for overcoming grief that are genuine, compassionate, and grounded in lived experience. Author Jacqui DeLorenzo, in her fantastic book A Thread of Hope: A Woman’s Spiritual Journey of Faith from Trauma to Triumph, offers a living example of a personal journey through grief and healing, showing that hope is possible and within reach.

Whether it is the loss of a loved one or partner, a major life transition, or emotional wounds carried for many years, healing is never linear. Yet, it’s possible.

Grief Demands a Personal Approach to Healing

Grief looks different for every person. According to a 2020 report from the American Psychological Association, grief can last months or years, depending on the depth of the relationship and the individual’s emotional resilience.

There’s no universal timeline for feeling better and moving on. There’s no “right” way to feel. Some people cry daily, others feel numb, and many move through alternating stages of anger, confusion, sadness, acceptance, and even guilt. Yet one truth remains consistent: healing begins with acknowledging the pain rather than pushing it away.

Many individuals benefit from grief and emotional support during this process. Support systems—friends, family, spiritual mentors, or therapists—help validate your emotions and remind you that you don’t have to heal alone.

Personal Healing Takes Time

Every grief journey is different. A person’s response to pain and sadness differs from another's. You may feel strong one day and overwhelmed the next. The key is not to rush yourself; you can support yourself with consistency and compassion.

With grief disrupting your sleep cycles, individuals experiencing deep loss often wake up more frequently and spend less time in restorative REM sleep—the stage crucial for emotional processing.

This science underscores the importance of treating grief holistically, encompassing the mind, body, and spirit. Healing requires looking at everything as one whole unit rather than pieces that need help.

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Personal Healing Tips for Overcoming Grief

Here are some reliable methods or bereavement recovery tools that promote healing, emotional balance, and inner growth.  

1. Allow Yourself to Feel Fully and Honestly

Avoiding or suppressing emotions may give temporary relief, but it prolongs the healing process. Emotional suppression has been linked to heightened anxiety, depression, and even physical illness. When you experience grief, allow yourself to feel sadness, fear, anger, relief, confusion, gratitude, and love.

Every emotion that goes through you is part of your healing. When you allow them to flow without judgment, you release emotional blockages that would otherwise remain unresolved. You don’t have to lie about what you are feeling.

2. Create Meaningful Rituals

Rituals (or certain habits) help maintain connection while adjusting to the physical absence. These rituals can be small or elaborate, but they should feel personal to you. Here are some things you can do:

1. Light a candle for your loved one.

   This simple action is a moment of reflection, a way to connect with your loved one in memory. With time, it will become a healing ritual that provides emotional grounding.

   
   

2. Visiting a special place that reminds you of them.

   Whether it is to a bookstore, a park, a beach, or a quiet corner in your home, returning to a familiar place helps create a sense of continuity during an emotional upheaval. It anchors your grief in love.

   
   

3. Writing letters to your loved one.

   This technique works because it allows space for unsaid words, regrets, gratitude, or emotional closure. Each letter becomes one step toward acceptance and peace. While you’re not expecting a response, the letters are meant to bring relief on your side.

3. Practical Healing Methods to Embrace

A person often feels that everyday tasks can feel unnecessary and overwhelming, especially when grieving. Adding practical healing methods establishes structure and comfort within the disorder in their lives. Here are essential practices:

1. Establish a simple daily routine.

   Routines bring predictability when emotions feel chaotic. Even a short morning ritual—like making tea, stretching for five minutes, or journaling—signals your brain that life still has rhythm and meaning. Structure reduces anxiety and promotes steadier emotional processing.
   

2. Move your body gently each day.

   Physical movement releases endorphins, the body’s natural mood stabilizers. You don’t need intense workouts and sessions to improve your mood. A walk to the park, yoga in the afternoon, or simple stretching in the evenings can boost your emotional resilience—reducing grief-related stress.
   

3. Limit overstimulation and emotional overload.

   Social gatherings, news consumption, and excessive noise can feel uncontrollable during grief. Setting gentle boundaries helps protect your energy and preserves your emotional capacity for healing. Always put your mental health and emotions first.
   

4. Seek Spiritual Meaning and Anchor Yourself in Faith

Grieving with faith and hope is a powerful path toward honest and fulfilling recovery. In general, faith offers comfort and reassurance during times when life feels senseless or unfair—hopeless, even.

Spiritual practices that help your recovery include: prayer, meditation, reading spiritual texts, and attending community services. In A Thread of Hope, Jacqui DeLorenzo emphasizes that faith doesn't erase pain, but it transforms it.

5. Build a Support Network and Stay Connected

One of the strongest grief predictors is isolation. Humans are wired for connection—emotionally, socially, and spiritually. Grieving individuals who maintain strong support networks recover faster and experience fewer long-term mental health struggles.

You can seek connection through: support groups, family and friends, faith communities, and a therapist or grief counselors.

6. Give Yourself Permission to Move Forward

Moving forward doesn’t mean forgetting. It means learning how to carry the memory with you in a way that supports, rather than suffocates, your path.

Allow yourself to: experience joy again, build new dreams, form new relationships, and explore new opportunities for growth.

This is not betrayal, but rather a continuation. It is honoring the love you shared by choosing to live fully.

7. When Needed, Seek Professional Help

Grief becomes overwhelming for many people, and that is understandable. If your symptoms interfere with daily life, a trained therapist or grief specialist can guide you through various tools.

Seeking and accepting help is a courageous step toward reclaiming your life and moving forward.

Your Healing Starts Today

Grief may change who you are, but it does not have to define you for the rest of your life. Healing is possible through compassion, faith, community, and intentional self-care.

If you are ready to take your next step toward recovery and meaning, explore Jacqui DeLorenzo’s deeply inspiring book A Thread of Hope: A Woman’s Spiritual Journey of Faith from Trauma to Triumph.

Her story is proof that even in the darkest seasons, hope remains a thread strong enough to pull you back into the light. Take a deep breath—your healing starts today.