When Healing Feels Impossible: The Real Journey of Grief and Recovery

By Jon Terrell, M.A.

“Grief is the last act of love we can give to those we loved. Where there is deep grief, there was great love.”

Grief doesn’t just visit — it settles in.It changes how you see the world, how you move through your days, and how you understand yourself. It can leave you wondering if you’ll ever feel normal again.

But here’s the truth: you don’t recover from grief — you recover with it.Healing doesn’t erase loss. It teaches you how to carry it differently — with tenderness, presence, and,

eventually, peace.

💔 Why Grief Hurts So Deeply

Grief is love in motion — love with nowhere to go.It pulls you inward, demanding your attention and slowing down time. You may feel disoriented, tired, or numb. You may swing between sadness, anger, confusion, and longing — sometimes all within minutes.

That’s not weakness. It’s the body and heart doing their sacred work of healing.

🌫️ The Myth of “Moving On”

Our culture often rushes us through grief. We hear, “It’s time to move on” or “They’d want you to be happy.”But grief doesn’t follow a timeline. It’s not a wound you simply get over — it’s a transformation that unfolds at its own pace.

Recovery begins not by pushing grief away but by making room for it.Tears, breath, rest, and stillness are not signs of defeat — they are the body’s natural ways of metabolizing pain.

🌱 What Recovery Really Looks Like

Recovery from grief doesn’t mean forgetting your loss. It means learning to live fully, even with an open wound.

It might look like:

• Allowing tears to come without apology.

• Talking to a trusted friend or therapist who truly listens.

• Returning to nature, where the cycles of loss and renewal are constant teachers.

• Finding community with others who understand your pain.

Healing happens quietly — in moments of honesty, in breath, in compassion.

🌤️ When You’re Ready to Begin Again

At our Grief and Loss Retreats, people often arrive feeling broken — weighed down by years of unspoken sorrow.But something extraordinary happens when grief is shared in a safe, loving space.The pain softens. The body releases. And slowly, new light begins to emerge.

No one can rush you through grief.But you can choose to walk with it, surrounded by others who are walking too.

“What is at first a cup of sorrow becomes, at last, immortal wine.” — The Bhagavad Gita

Healing is not about closure — it’s about expansion.Your heart will never be the same, but it can grow larger around the loss.

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Jon Terrell, M.A.Psychotherapist, meditation teacher, and energy healer.Leads Grief and Loss Retreats and Emotional Healing Workshops in Massachusetts and New York.