At some point in our life, we all have experienced a loss. This can be the death of a family member, retirement from a lifelong career, a spouse through a divorce, the miscarriage of a baby, and even our health as we once knew it. For many of us, we have learned the art of masking our real emotions with hopes that the feeling will go away if we ignore it. Unfortunately it doesn’t, we either deal with our emotions now, when it pains us to even think about it, or later, when we notice our unresolved grief is our stuck point in our recovery. Some of us are familiar with the stages of grief including Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance, however these are just words on a website if we don’t truly work through each stage of our grief with a professional to move towards healing and closure. There is a successful way to grieve and it all starts with first acknowledging that a loss has occurred. Secondly, allowing ourselves to feel every emotion connected with that loss. Just sit with that emotion for a minute, a day, or a week. Next, identify what that loss meant to you and begin to process emotions associated with that loss with a therapist. Last but not least, as you work through your emotions, you will engage in healthy assignments such as writing a goodbye letter or visiting the gravesite of a loved one to confront the loss. Eventually, we can identify opportunities for honoring and tributing the loss and benefits for moving on with life recognizing that this was part of our journey but not the end of it.