Grief. Mourning. Bereavement.

By Kimberlee Bow, MA, LPC, R-DMT, CT

These three words are often heard and yet many times the true meaning of each gets lost. It is worth a moment to stop and understand the difference between these words in service of your grief journey.

What is grief?

Grief is our internal experience to loss. This includes the thoughts and feelings that each of us has when someone we love dies. Our ability to grieve stems from our capacity to give and receive love.

Many of us have been given the message that grief is something “to get over.” The reality of the situation is that grief is not something that one “gets over.” Rather we integrate our grief by being touched by the feelings. In a way, it is our grief that manages us or guides us rather than us trying to manage our grief. Grief is integrated when it is welcomed rather than being based on a set time.

GRIEF IS LIKE THE OCEAN; IT COMES IN WAVES, EBBING AND FLOWING. SOMETIMES THE WATER IS CALM, AND SOMETIMES IT IS OVERWHELMING. ALL WE CAN DO IS LEARN TO SWIM ~ VICKI HARRISON

What is mourning?

Mourning often heard interchangeably with grief is different. Mourning is the outward expression of our grief. In other words, it is our shared social response to loss. In simple terms, mourning is grief gone public.

It is through …