Grief can often be painful when other people around us have adapted to the changes of life, but we have not yet. We can feel alone and left out all over again. “In grief, we often do not want to move forward for fear that we will forget about our loved ones. Yet be assured, our loved ones would desire our growth,” says Jonathan Rios, LMHC, a licensed psychotherapist. People do not grieve in the same ways or in the same time frame. Some may experience feelings of depression and lethargy, while others may feel angry and the need to stay busy and distracted. It’s important to find resources and support options that work for each person. It’s also important to have compassion for ourselves and others in the understanding that much of the grief process won’t make sense nor will we move through it very gracefully. The important thing is to find what techniques, resources, and daily routines are most helpful for you in the healing process. Here are the best grief journals, according to an expert. The journal is made with spiral binding for easier writing and durability. Some pages include prompts and others are left blank to help customize entries. Customers can also request their journal pages to be perforated for easy removal if desired. Price at time of publication: $25 The journal includes prompts to document happy memories experienced with your loved one and is designed to be a keepsake of happy memories you can return to for years. Buy this set for yourself or as a thoughtful gift for someone you know who is grieving. Price at time of publication: $40 This journal was designed to be a companion as you go through the grieving and healing process and evolve into a type of time capsule that you can revisit to remember the loved one and celebrate the life they lived as well as your relationship with them. Price at time of publication: $22 Encouraging words and concepts help give children a starting place to begin processing their emotions and experiences, while the coloring designs allow kids to be active and mentally process their experience and grief concepts. Price at time of publication: $13 Full of clear instructions, space for writing, challenges, and explanations to help increase understanding and self-compassion, this book is suitable for a more complex grief and healing process. It is helpful to use in conjunction with therapy to allow for deeper processing and understanding, as some aspects of the workbook may be painful to deal with. Price at time of publication: $15 A blank journal that gives permission to be bewildered, angered, and free to write what you like can be very helpful for some. While some grievers benefit from structure and a well-planned process, others need total freedom to just be themselves. Make this journal exactly what you need it to be. Price at time of publication: $10 The writing prompts are especially unique, such as the prompt “things that will always remind me of my father.” Designed not only to record memories but also to record all the things in the future that you would want Dad to know about. Price at time of publication: $9 The paper is lined, made of high-quality stock, and 110 pages allow for plenty of room to write and document both emotions and memories. Because grief is a daily process, the journal is designed to be used once a day in either short or more in-depth entries. The daily structure and writing prompts help to keep you on your healing journey. Price at time of publication: $8 Because grief can be a complicated and confusing feeling, this journal is designed to help sort out thoughts, memories, things left unsaid, and confusing emotions that remain. It includes an in-depth feelings chart which is very helpful to use when tracking daily emotions, progress, and in therapy sessions. Price at time of publication: $16 Grief can be especially confusing for children and confusing for adults who aren’t sure how to talk about different aspects of the process. The writing prompts are simple and easy to follow with plenty of room to personalize. The book is short at 64 pages to prevent it from becoming an overwhelming project. Price at time of publication: $18
Customizable pages
Grief journals with open, unlined pages can be used for writing, drawing, collaging, scrapbooking, or however else you want to express yourself. If you want to do a bit of everything, look for a journal with a range of page styles, such as fully lined pages, half-lined pages, and one-third-lined pages.
Easy to use
Whatever else you look for in your grief journal, it shouldn’t require a manual to figure it out. “A grief journal helps capture feelings and thoughts that we can then comb through in therapy, and functions as a kind of reminder,” says Matt Lundquist, founder and clinical director of Tribeca Therapy. “Writing feelings down is a way of holding onto them and encouraging more time to sit with hard feelings, which is an important part of working through grief.”
Why Trust Verywell Mind
As a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with over 15 years’ experience working with clients to improve mental and emotional health, Mary K Tatum understands the importance of finding quality resources and techniques that work for each person. Not everyone will have the same kind of healing journey, therefore, having lots of options to choose from is vitally important in creating a lifestyle that combats mental illness and promotes health and wellbeing. The phases of grief often do not correlate with time and can come in unexpected waves, therefore journaling can be done daily, or only on days when the feelings are overwhelming. We can document our journey through the dark phases of grief and write out feelings we think other people may not understand. Journaling also allows us to look back and see how far we have progressed through pain and challenges that were overcome, which strengthens our self-confidence. You can also write about the ways the person or thing you’ve lost affected your life in a positive way. There is no right or wrong way to write about grief. The intense feelings of grief can shock your brain and cause it to feel confused and foggy. This will improve as you heal and begin to feel better.
