HOW (AND WHY) TO STAY ALIVE

Using tools to reduce your suffering is one of the few concrete actions

to take inside grief. Reducing suffering still leaves you with pain, however,

and

that pain can be immense.

Surviving early grief is a massive effort. Forget getting through the day;

sometimes the pain is so excruciating, the most you can aim for is getting

through the next few minutes. In this chapter, we review tools to help you

bear

the pain you’re in, what to do when that pain is too much, and we explore

why

kindness to self is the most necessary—and most difficult—medicine.