What is G.R.I.E.F?

G.R.I.E.F ™ is very different to how traditional grief is understood.

Grief

Grief (no dots) is generally understood as the experience you go through after the death of someone you love as you come to terms with or find a way to cope with your loss and the way that you are feeling.
It is considered a negative experience and, at it’s simplest, is a journey from a lot of pain….to, hopefully, a lot less pain.
At best people tend to expect, with the passing of time, to be able to live their lives but still to be in some pain, even just a little, over their loss. Quite likely for the rest of their lives.

This is not what is has to be like. Not anymore. And this is not what I want for you. So it is time for a redefinition of what the experience of losing someone you love can really be.

G.R.I.E.F

Both grief and G.R.I.E.F start out looking the same.  But where they end up is where the difference lies.  A G.R.I.E.F journey is a much bigger and more profound thing. It is about finding the meaning and beauty and truth in a death in your life, to best honour yourself and to best honour the life (and death) of the person you love so much.
It is not just finding a way from lots of pain to not-as-much pain.

G.R.I.E.F is the journey from pain and loss to……

Gratitude                     for those you love, the person you’ve lost, for your own life

Real Connection     to the person you’ve lost, to yourself, to those you love

Inspiration                  to be inspired by the events in your life & where you are going

Empowerment         to step forward and fully live your precious life

Freedom                     from most, if not all, of the emotional pain you are in

Neither grief nor G.R.I.E.F have anything at all to do with stages, despite what has become common understanding (the 5 stages model has been thoroughly debunked many, many times. If you would like more info about this, email me and I’ll happily share articles and information with you.)
The death of someone you love begins a journey of meaning-making (which is what grief really is) and therefore is highly individual to each of us, which is why each person’s experience of a loss is very different, and why your experience of losing one person may be totally different to your experience of losing someone else.

And meaning can change.

If what you are looking for is the first version of grief (lots of pain to less pain, or to cope with/manage/live with your pain) then I am not the right person for you.

If instead you would love this experience of loss to be a journey from pain and loss to gratitude, real connection to the person you’ve lost, inspiration, empowerment, and freedom from pain….then you are in the right place.

Life’s trials are not meant to destroy you…but to help you grow, to empower you, to help you discover who you really are. Yes, even the toughest of life’s experiences. In fact, especially those.
There are many things in life you may feel that you do not get to choose. But this you do. You get to choose, somewhere on this journey, which path you will take.
Now that you know there is more than just the option of traditional grief… you have a choice – will you take the grief road or the G.R.I.E.F road?

I would love for you to join me and many others on the G.R.I.E.F journey. And I look forward to meeting you on the road and walking with you.

Kristie

xx