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The Role of Gratitude in Grief

It changes how the grief of loss is experienced.

Blake Alan
4 min readAug 26, 2022

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We have all lost a person, pet, place, or thing that we loved. The grief that accompanies this kind of loss is something none of us can escape. With that, mourning can become overwhelming. It can feel like we are drowning in our own darkness.

This can carry on for quite some time if left unchecked, which does several harmful things to the body and mind.

A way to throw yourself a life preserver while wading in the waters of mourning is by adding gratitude to your grief. It may seem odd at first, but it changes the way grief is experienced.

Grieving is normal

Instead of grief being a pain that’s prolonged into the distant future, it can become a path of growth, understanding, and a fast track to healing.

The aim isn’t to swap grief with gratitude so everything is always rainbows and sunshine. That’s not realistic.

When I lose someone or something I love, it hurts, and that’s okay. The hurt kicks off grief, which is natural and needed for processing the pain. To deny myself grief would be to lie to myself. So the goal here isn’t to stop grieving, but to change the way we do it. With gratitude, we can learn to navigate the waters of mourning and heal…

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Blake Alan
Blake Alan

Written by Blake Alan

I like to write, practice mindfulness, and introspect on life.

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