7 healing quotes on grief to inspire

We'll all be touched by grief in our lives and we'll all manage it differently. However, what we have in common is the ability to work through it and survive. These seven healing grief quotes compiled by Calvin Holbrook can provide strength when you're struggling with loss.

 

At some point in our life, the majority of us will experience grief. This intense feeling can be bewildering, painful and hard to navigate – especially when experienced for the first time or when we are mourning someone or something that had been especially close to us such as a close family member, partner of friend. 

 

Everyone's journey with grief is different and we all learn how to deal with it our own way. However, we can take comfort in the words of those who have mourned before us, survived their loss, or even made grief their friend. These seven healing grief quotes can help you work through the different feelings and emotions you will feel during a time of mourning.

 

7 healing grief quotes

Take comfort in reading these healing quotes on grief. Each one explores a different facet of grieving and loss that you maybe experiencing. Hopefully they will empower you and give you some peace during this difficult time. 

 

1. Grief reminds of us how much we loved

“Grief and love are forever intertwined. Grief is the terrible reminder of the depths of our love and, like love, grief is non-negotiable.” Nick Cave

 

This healing grief quote comes from musician Nick Cave who lost his teenager son Arthur in 2015. Cave shared an emotional open letter about how he still feels the presence of his son. This healing grief quote makes it clear that grief is the price we pay for having loved someone or something so dearly – it is part of a non-negotiable deal when we love. If love if the ‘head’ of a coin, grief is the ‘tails’, for ever tied together. So, when you are feeling stuck in your deepest feelings of grief, take comfort in the fact that your pain also acts as a reminder of just how much you cared. 

 

2. Grief is not a sign of weakness

“Grief is not a disorder, a disease or a sign of weakness. It is an emotional, physical and spiritual necessity, the price you pay for love. The only cure for grief is to grieve.” Earl Grollman

 

Rabbi and bereavement counselor Earl Grollman has written many books on death, loss and the grieving process. This healing quote on grief reminds us not to confuse the symptoms of grief with weakness. Anger, intense sadness, anxiety, moodiness, lethargy and failure to focus; these are all things the grieving person may experience and are not a reflection of us as people. These normally negatively-associated feelings do not mean we are weak. 

 

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Indeed, we need to experience these intense feelings of pain and suffering to work through our grief. Do not try to fight off feelings of sadness or anger: sit with your feelings with grief and just allow them to be. This is all part of the grieving process. 

 

3. We are not alone in grief

“We bereaved are not alone. We belong to the largest company in all the world – the company of those who have known suffering.” Helen Keller

 

Sometimes grief can make us feel us terribly alone. As well as losing that someone or something close to us, friends and other family members may retreat in apprehension about how to communicate with us. In fact, you may even experience secondary loss when certain friends fail to be there for you so friendships fall by the wayside. Furthermore, we may actually need and choose solitude to process our grief, all of which can add to deep feelings of loneliness and vulnerability.

 

“This healing grief quote makes it clear that grief is the price we pay for having loved someone or something so dearly – it is part of a non-negotiable deal.”

However, this healing quote on grief from American author Helen Keller reminds us that we are actually a part of the biggest communities and the world and one that all of us will probably join at some part – those that have loved and lost. Take comfort in the fact that there are currently millions of people in the world experiencing similar feelings to you and that grief is in inevitable part of life. It can be useful during this time to connect and support others grieving through local support groups or online forums. 

 

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Solitude is a part of grieving, perhaps a very necessary one. We need time alone with our thoughts and feelings to process them and reflect on the person or thing we have lost. Indeed, some of us will seek out solitude during the grieving process, but it’s important to remain connected to others in some way.

 

4. Grief comes in waves

“Grief is tidal. In time, it can recede and leave us with feelings of peace and advancement, only for it to wash back in with all its crushing hopelessness and sorrow.” Nick Cave

 

Musician Nick Cave is also behind this healing grief quote that explains perfectly how the grieving process is never linear. Feelings of intense grief can wash over us at moment, sparked by a thought, a feeling, a smell or a song. In that moment the tears flow and we are fully submerged in grief and sadness once again. But the sorrow always begin to recede again, just as the tide ebbs and flows. 

 

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As Cave explained in his quote, “Grief is tidal. In time, it can recede and leave us with feelings of peace and advancement, only for it to wash back in with all its crushing hopelessness and sorrow. Back and forth it goes, but with each retreating drift of despair, we are left a little stronger, more resilient, more essential and better at our new life.” So, when you are in the deepest throes of grief, remember that this will pass and you will feel peace again. Another wave will come again in the future, but that will pass too. 

 

5. You will learn to live with grief

“The reality is that you will grieve forever. You will not ‘get over’ the loss of a loved one; you will learn to live with it.” Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

 

Psychiatrist and author Kubler-Ross was a near-death expert and well-known for her theorization on the stages of grief. With her expert knowledge of grief and the grieving process she is perhaps best placed to tell us that we will never fully get over our loss, but that we will adapt to live with grief.

 

“The reality is that you will grieve for ever. You will not 'get over' the loss of a loved one; you will learnt to live with it.”

 

The full quote from Kubler-Ross states: “The reality is that you will grieve for ever. You will not ‘get over’ the loss of a loved one; you will learn to live with it. You will heal and you will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered. You will be whole again but you will never be the same. Nor should you be the same nor would you want to.”

 

6. Their memory lives on inside us

“We never lose our loved ones. They accompany us; they don’t disappear from our lives. We are merely in different rooms.” Paulo Coelho

 

This healing quote on grief from author Paulo Coelho is a powerfully comforting one to retell yourself when you need to feel close to your loved one. This quote reminds us that although they have passed on in their physical form, who or what you are grieving for lives on in a spiritual dimension. Furthermore, a part of them lives on inside us and we can further respect their memory and legacy by living by their values. We can recall them and surround ourselves with them at all times. We can even choose to continue to communicate and talk to them. 

 

7. Your loving nature will heal you 

“Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them.” Leo Tolstoy

 

Our final healing grief quote comes from Russian author Leo Tolstoy and is a fitting quote to end on as it promises hope for the future. If you are currently suffering with your grief then that’s a sign that you truly loved the thing you are missing; that you have the capacity to feel love and pain in equal depths and complexities. 

 

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However, what Tolstoy is saying is that this same love will give you the strength to heal and recover in time. While you are grieving it’s important to keep loving yourself and keep doing the things you love too. Focus on the other people that you love that are still here around you too. It’s this love that will ultimately heal your pain and help you to move forward in life. •

Have you experienced grief? What got you through? Do you have any healing quotes on grief to share? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and in our forum on grief and loss...
Main image: shutterstock/Masson
 

 

Written by Calvin Holbrook

Calvin edits the happiness magazine, makes gay artwork and loves swimming, yoga, dancing to house/techno, and all things vintage! Find out more.