Based on my years treating patients who have dealt with the loss of a loved one and my personal experience with my husband's death, I know there are many complicated emotions that one can experience when dealing with late-stage illness and death.

So give us a brief time to cry, to grieve. Something really bad happened. Let us work through our emotions. Then after that, spit in the eye of fate and the madmen, be proud of our cities and our nationality, and gain revenge in normality.

It is clear that I must now make a new home for myself within my own heart. There I must create a door that is always open, a light that burns eternally, a spark that cherishes my name, and a blessing of continual self-forgiveness.

Restoration after a sudden trauma is not easy, but it is possible. In fact, you can even learn how to surf your tsunami, moving through it with skill and grace.

We must learn to forgive, not just for ourselves, but because we influence the rest of the world, including our loved ones and families. Forgiveness is deeply healing. It allows us to live free in the present moment.

Lights, music, festivities, and feasts all around -- but if you're grieving the loss of a loved one, it is anything but "the most wonderful time of the year." If you're grieving and are wondering how you'll survive the season, use the following six suggestions to ease the way.

This is the time of year when people recall events of the past 12 months, but more important, the lives we lost.

Through the years of my work to help people heal, I've discovered some powerful tools that I hope will help some you who are suffering from Sandy.

Wouldn't it be in our best interest as a society to transform our fear-based culture of death by encouraging a healthier belief about death as a normal occurrence? There is so much we could do to educate and prepare ourselves to handle death with greater loving, service, and compassion.

There is no easy way to deal with death. There is no phrase which by its mere utterance will cure a bereaved person. I have learned this. This experience has allowed me to garner a motto for life: "Every day you're alive, there's a reason to smile."

So what can we do while dwelling in shades of blue? First, we can remember that feeling grief is a natural and normal response that honors the very vibrancy of human life, the loss of which we mourn.

And so the days have been. It could all change tomorrow. I could be a grieving mom. I hope the day never comes. Dare I say, in a small way I grive with these moms. I am so sorry they have lost their babies. I am in awe of their courage.

Like it or not, we are all asked to be in relationship with loss and grief. Over the years, I have discovered that grief doesn't go away but teaches us how to discover our strength and resilience by staying with deep and inexplicable feelings over long periods of time.

Grief is a universal human experience that all of us will encounter eventually. Understanding what we can and cannot expect will help ease the process as it unfolds. Loss may change life as we know it, but the unknown is full of possibility.

he depth of emotions can be so overwhelming that I found I often had tried to avoid the grief that has been building within my mind, body, and soul. I also instinctively knew that I needed to feel the pain to release it.