15 Meaningful Words of Compassion & Comfort For Someone Who Is In Pain Or Loss

In this week’s Success Newsletter, I would like to like to reveal the 15 meaningful words of compassion & comfort for someone who is in pain or loss.

First a quick update: 

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What do you say to someone who is in pain due to loss such as a job, illness, divorce, breakup or death?

The experience of loss in all its forms leads to pain and suffering.

In turn, the person who is grieving undergoes conflicting, confusing, and sometimes debilitating thoughts and emotions.

Before sharing the 15 meaningful words of compassion & comfort for someone who is in pain or loss, take note of some of the thoughts and emotions they will experience. Here are some examples.

Thoughts That Follow Loss & Grieving

Why? Why did this happen?

Why did it have to happen? Why me? Why him/her and not me?

I don’t want to go on. I just want to die.

I feel nothing; I am numb.

Will I ever feel anything again?

I can’t handle the pain.

I feel guilty; it’s my fault; I am to blame.

Emotions And Behaviors That Follow Loss & Grieving

This is not a complete list, but it gives you a sense of what someone might experience due to loss and suffering:

Anger, frustration, extreme irritability, loss of emotional control, outbursts, regret, confusion, guilt, shame, self-blame, loneliness, isolation, gloom, hopelessness, helplessness, powerlessness, despair, overwhelm, physical exhaustion, fear, anxiety, and depression.

Compassion is the act of feeling someone else’s pain and choosing to relieve it.

As you read the list below, remember loss and death create extraordinary fear – the fear of being alone, the fear of being disconnected and the fear of living without meaning or purpose. Your words can offer comfort, reassurance that someone still loves them and care for them, and that they are not alone and not disconnected.

Loving each other gives us all meaning!

15 Words To Express Compassion And Comfort To Someone Who Is In Pain Or Loss

1. I’m sorry.

2. I am so sorry that you are going through this.

3. I am so sorry you are hurting and suffering.

4. I know there is nothing that can express the amount of pain you are feeling, but I am here to listen and support you.

5. I love you and I care about you.

6. I am right here with you, and I am here for you.

7. There is nothing that I say that can change what happened, but I am here for you.

8. There are no words that can express my sorrow for your loss.

9. Please know that it’s okay to feel whatever you feel. 

10. You are important to me, and I care about you.

11. I am grieving with you.

12. Please let me know if there is anything you need and anything I can do to help.

13, I am keeping you in my thoughts and prayers (if they are religious or spiritual only.)

14. I wish I could take your pain away.

15. I will always remember and hold dear the joy (loved one) brought to us.

The above is not a complete list; it simply represents a guideline of some of the most effective and comforting things you can say to someone who is suffering and in pain from loss.

“One’s life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion.”

Simone De Beauvoir

Beware Of Doing This

It is natural response that when we see someone in pain, we want to immediately make it better with words of advice or wisdom.

Advice to someone who is in pain only makes things worse.

Therefore, when they are sharing with you confusing thoughts or emotions, let them be, let them express, and choose to validate their right to feel and to hurt.

When time has passed and they are still stuck in self-blame, or they are engaging in self-destructive behavior, then you can begin to intervene with the appropriate advice or guidance.

Read more here about “8 Things To Never Say To Someone Who Is In Pain Or Loss” and here about how to express compassion without words – nonverbal compassion.

“No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.”

~ C.S. Lewis

If you need help to heal the pain of loss or if you didn’t’ experience compassion in childhood, resolve it rapidly and easily, and be set free of the pain with my SRTT process. Book a one-on-one session with me.

You can add to the conversation below.

I wish you the best and remind you “Believe in yourself -You deserve the best!”

Patrick Wanis Ph.D. Celebrity Life Coach, Human Behavior & Relationship Expert & SRTT Therapist