3 Expert Tips on How to Navigate Grief

How to accept grief and learn how to live with loss

Grief is a deeply personal and often overwhelming experience. It can feel like a storm that comes in waves—sometimes gentle, sometimes all-consuming. While loss is an inevitable part of life, learning how to navigate grief in a way that honors our emotions and our well-being is a skill we aren’t often taught.

We’ve explored three approaches to help you process loss with intention. These practices don’t erase the pain, but help you move forward with more ease and self-understanding.

Three Grief Practices to Help Navigate Loss

1. Make Time to Be With Your Grief

Grief is not something to push aside—it’s something to sit with. 

Block intentional time in your calendar to sit with your grief. Our bodies are intuitive and often hold our emotions before our minds fully process them. When you allow your grief to surface, take a moment to notice where you feel it in your body. Is it a heaviness in your chest? A tightness in your throat? 

By giving yourself space to experience these sensations, you begin to cultivate acceptance of what can feel like an overwhelming and unfamiliar emotion.

2. Self Care Practices to Move with Your Grief

Filling your days with endless tasks and “busyness” can be a way of avoiding grief rather than moving with it. 

Prioritize self-care practices that bring you into the present moment and reconnect you with your breath and body. This might mean gentle movement, journaling, or even something as simple as making a cup of tea. 

Self-care looks different for everyone, and there’s no “right” way to heal—what matters is creating space for what you need, without judgment. 

3. Talk to Somebody About Your Grief

Grief can be an isolating experience but it shouldn't be. 

Grief is inherently introspective. It turns you inward— reflecting on your past, present and future. It can feel like quicksand as you become lost within your own thoughts. 

Speaking with someone, whether it be a friend, family member or professional, can help you feel seen, held and understood. When you share your grief, you allow yourself to process it in a more holistic way—integrating it into daily living rather than burying it away for another time.

How to Integrate Grief Practices into Everyday Living 

The truth is, healing requires intentionality. By weaving grief practices into your routine, you create space to process your emotions, rather than avoid them. 

These three practices will help you understand how to integrate the three grief practices mentioned above into your everyday life.

1. Schedule Grief Like it’s a Non-Negotiable

We all need to eat, sleep, and make ends meet. Our life is busy but in order to “live with loss” we need to carve out time to learn how to “live with loss.” 

Something as simple as 5 minutes a day can have an immense influence on our healing. It might seem strange at first but over time our body-mind-spirit understands that this is time for grieving—and it becomes a container. When our heart knows we are going to be giving ourselves this time, our grief spills out less over the rest of our lives. 

Pick a day and block off time to sit with your emotions. Treat these moments like an unbreakable appointment with someone you deeply value—because that person is you.

2. Remember Healing Doesn't Happen Overnight

You’ve heard it before, but it bears repeating: healing is a journey. 

When we lose someone or something, we change. Something that was once part of our lives, is no longer there. And this change requires time to learn the “new us.” Give yourself grace as you adjust to your new reality, knowing that with time, patience, and self-compassion, you will find a way forward.

3. Acceptance, Acceptance, Acceptance.

Your grief journey is not like anyone else’s and each day will look different. No two grief journeys look the same, and no two days will feel the same either. Some days will be heavy, some will be light, and some will be somewhere in between. Rather than resisting or labeling your emotions as “good” or “bad,” allow them to be what they are. 

Acceptance isn’t about forcing yourself to move on—it’s about embracing all parts of your experience with openness and compassion.

When we can learn how to live with our loss in a way that invites acceptance and healing, we become better equipped for the “waves” of grief and establish a new way of being that welcomes our full scope of emotions—a life filled with depth and intention. 

Looking for more?

If you are called to use your own grief journey as a catalyst to help support others, our Grief Support Specialist training might be a good fit for you. Our program is a beacon of hope for those navigating the complexities of grief and loss. 

This training is designed for individuals who possess a strong sense of empathy and compassion, and have a genuine desire to support others through difficult times.