Grief is not a process with a clear beginning, middle, and end; it moves in waves — sometimes calm for weeks, then arriving with full force on a random Tuesday afternoon triggered by a smell or a song. Understanding the wave structure of grief is both practically useful and psychologically reassuring: the absence of grief for a period is not betrayal, and its return after months or years is not regression. This domain maps the actual terrain of grief as it is lived.
Each step builds on the last.