Grief is that emotional state that just knocks you off your feet and comes over you like a wave. Grieving is what happens as we adapt to the fact that our loved one is gone, that we’re carrying the absence of them with us.
Grief is tied to all sorts of different brain functions, says researcher and author Mary-Frances O’Connor. That can range from being able to recall memories to taking the perspective of another person, to even things like regulating our heart rate and the experience of pain and suffering.
Adjusting to the fact that we’ll never again spend time with our loved ones can be painful. It takes time. When we have the experience of being in a relationship, the sense of who we are is bound up with that other person. The word sibling, the word spouse implies two people. And so when the other person is gone, we suddenly have to learn a totally new set of rules to operate in the world.
Continue reading at – https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/12/20/1056741090/grief-loss-holiday-brain-healing