How do I know if my grief is normal or if I need professional help?

Mirabai knew something about the weight of love — how it doesn't disappear when the beloved does, it just changes form. Grief isn't a problem to solve. It's devotion continuing without an object to pour it into. That said, there's a difference between grief and being completely untethered. Normal grief is devastating but directional — it moves through you in waves. You have moments of almost-normalcy between the waves. You can still eat, sleep, speak about what happened without completely fragmenting. Consider reaching out to a therapist or counselor if: you can't get out of bed for weeks, you're having thoughts of harming yourself, the grief feels completely static — like you're frozen rather than moving through it, or you're unable to talk to anyone about what happened. Isolation makes grief heavier, not lighter. Mirabai wrote her way through loss. Sometimes what you need isn't to "get over it" but to have a witness — someone trained to sit with you while you learn to carry this differently. That's not weakness. That's wisdom.