How to Navigate Grief After Losing a Loved One

Finding Light in the Darkness

There are no words that can fully capture the ache of losing someone you love.

It’s a sorrow that seeps into everything — your body, your breath, your sense of time. One day they were here, and now… the world feels quieter. Heavier. Emptier.

The weight can feel unbearable at times, especially when the connection you shared was deep, meaningful, and irreplaceable.

You might find yourself replaying their voice in your head. Reaching for your phone to call them. Sitting in spaces they once filled and wondering how the world keeps turning when yours has stopped.

Grief is not just about absence — it’s about love.

Love that has nowhere to go.

Love that still wants to be expressed.

If you’re here, reading these words, know this:

Your grief is sacred.

And you’re not alone.

And neither is your loved one.

Grief is one of the most sacred — and painful — journeys we ever walk.

But what if death isn’t the end?

What if grief is not something to “get over,” but an invitation to relate to your loved one in a new, spiritual way?

In this blog, we’ll explore:

• The deeper meaning of grief through a holistic and spiritual lens

• How to maintain a connection with your loved one after their passing

• Why the spirit lives on — and how to feel their presence in everyday life

• How grief can be a gateway to healing, remembrance, and soul alignment

• Practical and compassionate ways to honour, process, and grow from your grief

Whether you’ve recently lost someone or are still healing years later — this blog is here to offer you comfort, clarity, and guidance.

Let’s walk this path of remembrance, together. 💛

Grief Is a Portal — Not a Punishment

The loss of a loved one can feel like the ground has been pulled from beneath you. It changes you. It makes everything look and feel different.

In our Western culture, we’re often taught to view death as the end. Something tragic. Something to fear.

But through the lens of holistic psychotherapy, spiritual teachings, and ancient wisdom traditions — death is not an end.

It’s a transition.

The great mystic Rumi wrote:

“Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.”

When a loved one passes, it may feel like they’re gone. But in truth, their spirit — their essence — continues to live, just in a new form.

As energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed, your connection with them is not lost. It is simply asking to be felt in a different way.

A New Way of Relating: Love Beyond the Physical

In therapy sessions, I often remind clients: They may not have their body anymore — but they still have their essence.

You can still speak to them. Write to them. Imagine their advice in moments of doubt. Feel their presence when a particular song plays, or a scent drifts past you.

Grief often softens when we realise we can build a new spiritual relationship with the one we’ve lost.

Try this:

• ✍🏽 Write them a letter in your journal.

• 🕯️ Light a candle and talk to them at night.

• 🕊️ Tune into their voice in your heart.

• 💌 Ask them a question… then be still and receive the answer through your intuition, or through signs and synchronicities around you.

  
  

Many clients report seeing white feathers, robins, butterflies, or even having a stranger say something that feels eerily specific. If your heart is open — you’ll notice them too.

Grief With a Higher Perspective

As painful as it is to lose someone — there is a spiritual truth that can bring deep peace:

Every soul has a sacred time to return home.

In ancient traditions such as the Egyptian and Tibetan Books of the Dead, the departure from the physical world was seen as a rite of passage — not an end. It was a homecoming.

A reunion with the Divine.

Some Indigenous cultures still hold death as a celebration of the soul’s return — a sacred transition back into Spirit. And while this may not ease the pain right away, it can help us release the guilt, the “should haves,” and the clinging to what was.

They didn’t leave you.

They completed their soul’s journey here.

Sometimes, it was simply their time.

Integrate Their Wisdom Into Your Life

Another powerful practice is to reflect on what your loved one represented for you.

• Were they nurturing? Bold? Creative? Loyal?

• What did they teach you about love, about life, about yourself?

  
  

These qualities live in you now.

You don’t just honour them by mourning — you honour them by embodying their light.

✨ If they taught you strength — embody it.

✨ If they showed you joy — seek it out.

✨ If they held deep faith — lean into your own.

You are their living legacy.

Let their love continue through the way you live, love, speak, and shine.

What Is This Loss Asking You to See?

Grief can be the greatest teacher.

Not because it’s easy — but because it strips away the noise and reveals what matters most.

Ask yourself:

• What is this loss inviting me to notice about life?

• What am I being called to realign with?

• What parts of me are rising in response to this grief?

  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  
  

Maybe you’re being initiated into a deeper relationship with yourself.

Maybe this grief is opening your heart to Spirit.

Maybe you're being called to slow down and integrate the meaning of this chapter.

When we allow ourselves to sit with the grief, not bypass it, transformation happens.

You Are Not Going Backwards

If you're revisiting an old grief, or struggling to make sense of a sudden loss — remember:

You are not regressing.

You are integrating.

Grief doesn’t follow a linear timeline.

It spirals.

And each time it resurfaces, it invites you into deeper compassion, wisdom, and self-trust.

You are not broken.

You are becoming.

You are walking through sacred terrain.

And it’s okay to take your time.

Gentle Tools to Navigate This Sacred Journey

Here are a few practices I often guide my clients through in sessions:

• The Daily Emotional Self-Awareness Journal — to track waves of grief and process emotions without shame.

• Scripting Exercises & Guided Visualisations — to connect with the essence of your loved one and receive messages of comfort.

• Body-based Mindfulness — like placing your hand on your heart or solar plexus and simply breathing presence into your body.

• Spiritual Anchors — such as affirmations, prayer, essential oils (like frankincense for heart opening), or lighting a candle in their memory.

  
  

And if you’re looking for more support, my Platinum Therapy Package offers a private, sacred container to process loss, reconnect with self, and transform grief into growth.

Final Thoughts: Grief Is a Love Story, Rewritten

Grief is not weakness. It’s not a sign you’re stuck. It’s love — still flowing, still reaching, still remembering.

Let that love evolve into something new.

Not to forget…But to honour.

To integrate.

To continue.

They’re still with you — just in a different form. In the rustle of the trees. In the warmth of the sun. In the strength that rises within you — day by day.

Take your time.

And know this:

You are not alone in your grief.

You are loved — and so are they. 

Take a breath, place your hand on your heart, and remind yourself:

I am allowed to grieve. I am allowed to heal. I am allowed to feel love, even here.

With the deepest love and compassion,

Leanne, Your Holistic Psychotherapist

Need extra support?

• Book a Holistic Therapeutic Reading to gain clarity, connection, and spiritual guidance in your time of grief.

• Work through the Daily Emotional Self-Awareness Journal to gently track and process your inner world.

• Begin therapy through the Platinum Package to explore your grief deeply in a compassionate, spiritual container.