The Foundations The Grief App is built on
Understand Grief — The Truth, Not the Myths That Keep You Stuck
Most of what you think you know about grief is wrong:
- There are no 5 Stages of Grief, everyone experiences it differently
- It doesn’t just last a year
- The goal is not to “get over it”
Grief isn’t what movies and misinformation have taught you — and knowing what it actually is changes everything about how you move forward.
On Your Own
- Read books or articles from qualified and vetted sources. We have a full list of resources on our website.
- Watch our video Grief isn’t Sadness
On The Grief App
- Workbooks: Stop wondering if something is wrong with you. Through simple, guided exercises with no right or wrong answers, you’ll gain real clarity about grief and your own journey through grief — and the relief of knowing you’re not “crazy,” just human.
Grief — Feel It Fully So It Stops Controlling You
When you allow yourself to actually feel your emotions instead of suppressing them, the waves stop being something you dread – especially if you pair it with Grief Wave Breathing. Over time, they become shorter, less frequent, and far less overwhelming — because your heart finally gets the processing time it’s been asking for all along.
On Your Own
- Set a kitchen timer or your watch to 3 minutes (could be as low as 1 or as high as 10). While the timer runs, allow yourself to just sit with your emotions.
On The Grief App
- Grief Wave Timer: Set the timer, and let yourself fully feel whatever comes up — no fighting it, no distraction. Comforting messages appear letting you know that what you’re feeling is normal.
Mourning — Turning Inner Chaos Into Real Understanding
When you express what’s happening inside instead of carrying it silently, you stop feeling like your grief is a tangled, unmanageable mess. You start to actually make sense of your loss — and that sense-making is what allows healing to begin.
On Your Own
- Write in a journal, try to get all your thoughts down on paper
- Create a scrapbook, photo album, or a folder on your phone to collect photos and tell stories.
- Talk about your loss to trusted friends or people who have expereinced similar losses.
On The Grief App
- Audio Journal: You go from a jumbled swirl of emotions to something you can actually name and understand — because saying it out loud forces your mind to organize what your heart already knows.
- Memory Book: Instead of feeling like your memories are slipping away or too painful to revisit, you build a lasting record of the person you loved — one that brings you closer to them instead of further away. Each story you write gives your heart repeated, structured time to process your loss and come to terms with your new reality.
- Workbooks: In addition to learning more about grief and mourning, the workbooks are interactive and ask you to think and write about your own experience.
Letting Joy Back In
Instead of feeling guilty every time you catch yourself smiling, know that joy and grief can coexist — and that letting joy in doesn’t dishonor your loss. Your nervous system gets a break, and you start to trust that good moments are still possible in your life.
On Your Own
- Create a folder on your phone to store photos of small good moments each day.
- Learn breathing techniques to pull you out of your spiraling thoughts and back to your body.
On The Grief App
- Good Moments: You retrain your brain to actually notice the good in your life again, instead of only registering what’s missing. Capture a good moment every day.
- Happiness Waves: Instead of good moments disappearing into memory, they come back to you when you need them most as phone notifications — offering a small, real lift throughout your day.
- Give Me a Break: Instead of staying trapped in spiraling thoughts, these activities pull you back into the present — giving your mind and body an actual rest from the intensity of grief.
