People surviving the death of a loved one should know: there is no order to which the stages of grief passes. Mourning is different for each person. The time you spend mourning is based on your relationship to the person you lost. If you had a wonderful relationship and interacted with your loved one until their passing, there is grief and loss, but there is no guilt. You will wish to have said and done more, but these feelings are quite common.
For some, there will be mixed feelings about a persons passing. Maybe the person who passed was unkind or abusive and because of this, you harbor animosity towards his or her passing. Does death absolve the you?
Most people would say, “yes!”
I say, let’s be honest.
If you’re hurt because you never got an apology you knowingly deserved, acknowledge that pain. If you feel relief that your abuse is over but guilty for being at peace, acknowledge these feelings too! Keep in mind, the choice to remain angry becomes an internal cancer. You will end up a victim of your own doing if you allow anger to ferment for too long. Anger is not and will never be nullified by death. If the persons passing seems like the perfect time to let go, then do it! But do it for the emotional benefit of yourself because death holds no special atonement for a persons wickedness.
If hatred is prolonging your grief and not allowing you to move on, please come see me. Bad mouthing the dead and internalizing such anger will not bring closure to your emotional wounds. It will not help you sleep at night. It might provide a moments worth of relief, but that will pass and guilt will come again. Hypnotherapy can help you let go. You can begin to assess your abusers actions and make a logical decision to no longer be controlled by them, even after they’ve passed.