Grief is pain. It hurts just as much or even more than physical pain. Grief is also a process and it happens in stages. It occurs whenever we loose someone due to death, or some other major loss in life like health or divorce. The stages of grief often begin with shock, followed by disbelief, guilt, anger, and finally movement on to acceptance.

When a death or loss is sudden or occurs as a result of a violent crime or disaster the bereaved sometimes experience "traumatic grief". When this happens it can be even more difficult for the bereaved to move through the stages of grief. Consequently, many families and friends who lost loved ones on September 11th may find their grief a little more intense or prolonged.

Grief can display itself in a variety of ways: apathy, fatigue, indifference, anguish, loneliness and despair. These all are natural responses to the extraordinary losses of that fateful day.

Yet, with all of this pain there is hope because grief does serve a purpose. It is a natural and spontaneous process of healing. Each person's grief journey is unique and there is no set method for how you'll feel or how long it will take. Although as the days and months pass some grieving people report having "good days and bad days." As difficult as it may sound, the grieving process is over only when a person completes the stages of grief e.g. accepting the loss and moving on with life. A life discovering who you are and how you can be whole again.