Surviving, grief and guilt

I was reading an article within the Daily Mirror today about grief. I agree with their conclusion that grief can lead to guilt and the best way to overcome the related depression is to help others. Here is a snippet of the article

“One of the greatest griefs suffered by survivors of Auschwitz was dealing with the bewilderment of having survived. Why did I live when so many others died?

But think of the gift of life you have been given miraculously.

Isn’t it worth taking advantage of it? You owe it to your wife if not yourself.

What a waste it would be if you remain withdrawn, depressed and on the sidelines of life. I can’t help but feel there’s more than a little self-pity in your state of mind.

Things could change dramatically for you if you can escape that. One escape route that rarely fails is helping those who are in a much worse position than you.

Speak to your doctor or priest about how you could invest your efforts in helping needy people in your locality.

You could shop for old people or the disabled. You could visit housebound people and just read the newspaper for them. Prison visiting is something else you might consider.’”

 Helping others has 2 effects for me – it occupies my mind and it fills that gap of being needed. The act of helping sounds unselfish but the irony is, is that it helps me as much.