What suggestions do you have for coping with loss?

I've been trying to cope with a huge loss for just over 4 years now :) there's no one fits all answer and I have no idea what your loss is :) it does get easier though  even though you probably feel like it won't... It does ... Then you'll feel guilty cos it gets easier ... Then you'll deal with that  ... Cos you have to :)  you'll find your way threw it. I think just remembering the good times helps ... And music... Music helps me :)  cos I said so !

What JT  said^  Time, and baby steps toward accepting, and learning to live with, what you cannot change. It's a personal journey for each person, on their own road toward acceptance. It takes longer for some than others. That's okay too. It's overwhelming to go through terrible losses. Sometimes it's two steps forward, and three steps back, but you have to keep on keeping on, or you lose your sanity, in my opinion.

Dear Abigail Connor,

When my mother died in 1986, a dear neighbor invited me over for a home-cooked logger breakfast; and told me how she, at the age of 92, still missed her own mother. Somehow it helped just to know that I, too, never had to "get over it," I could grieve forever.

The Swiss psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, who survived Nazi concentration camps, once met with a man who had lost his beloved wife and unable to cope. Dr. Frankl asked, "What would it have been like for her if YOU had died first?" The man just arose, shook Frankl's hand and left...that the last thing he could do for his one true love was to be the survivor... sometimes we come to see the grief in a broader perspective, the full experience of being human.

Queen Elizabeth II once said, "Grief is the price we pay for love." We cope with loss by just grieving. When my brother died, only 54, Vietnam vet PTSD, no one came to his funeral except me. But I arranged for a full military service, VFW marching, rifle salute, and then I kept the shells...          I did what I could to honor his life.

And tears come even now as I write this fifteen years later, I continue to live my own life to the full but I never forget.

Time will help heal your heart, but you never get over it. You just learn how to get through each day, hoping to find hope even when your heart is grieving.

When my dad died 28 days after my son was born, his funeral sucked. It was no one's fault, but us kids were definitely not happy with how it turned out. His funeral was in Texas but we buried his ashes back in Nebraska.

So, as closure, when we got the remains, my uncle held onto them, arranged to have a Korean War Veteran's plaque mounted on his headstone and a pastor that our family was close to, gave a wonderful speech about my dad at a graveside service. That really helped, having someone speak personal things about my dad.

You have to find a way to cope that is more healing than hurting.

I can only tell you what I did. I allowed myself to fully grieve. I cried, screamed, threw myself on the ground and kicked my legs. I cried so much I gave myself headaches, I bargained with any deity that I thought could hear me. I stopped eating, sleeping and feeling.

Finally one day, I saw a beautiful bird, and I knew it was time to get up and start living again. So, I did. It was slow going. At first it was reminding myself to breathe, then to eat and sleep. One foot in front of the other, one breath at a time.

My point is this, it's okay to grieve. In any way you must. Grieving made me realize that I was lucky to have loved that hard, and that I was indeed alive. Grieving made me always remember that without death there is no life. I appreciate life more because I have accepted death. This is how I cope with death. By accepting, and remembering those that I've lost.

My mother died back in 2006 time and my pet kitty help me all the time

First sorry for your loss.  Thru many years of experience I tell people who have just lost a loved one to plant and tree or bush in a special place known only to them and use this tree or bush as a way to communicate to their lost one. It isn't a miracle but really does help

I've coped with my losses myself. No one to care. Most of the times I lost someone or something or was going through something traumatizing I just went on with my daily life and didn't bother.  Sounds weird but that's how I coped with it. Just never thought about it. Even though if I did have PTSD, (which I've had multiple times) I just tried to never let it bother me. Even though it was hard. :)

At 70, I have had some practice with dealing with losses.

In retrospect, my understanding of what I am convinced exists in reality (both seen and unseen) has been the most important factor in dealing / coping with the losses I have experienced.  (And I have had people over the years ask me how I have managed to deal with death so easily.)

But regardless of each person's philosophy of life and loss, there is insight available on the grief process in us humans that gives us some good guidelines on how we can best deal with loss.

The following is from  http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/mental-health-coping-with-grief

Anyone can experience grief and loss, but each person is unique in how he or she copes with these feelings.

And these things can help:

Allowing time to experience thoughts and feelings openly to self

Expressing feelings openly or writing journal entries about them

Remembering that crying can provide a release

Confiding in a trusted person about the loss

Acknowledging and accepting both positive and negative feelings

Finding bereavement groups in which there are other people who have had similar losses

Seeking professional help if feelings become overwhelming

The best way to cope up with loss is acceptance. First you must accept the reality that he is no longer there and remembering all the happy memories. Stop the regrets. And always keep in mind that when someone pass away he/she does not want you to be mourning all your life. But rather he/she want you to continue living and be happy, always.

:)