aries2756,
You make good points; your sincerity is very apparent.
I do wish to note that grieving is one place that I wish weren’t “clinicalized”, “psychologized”, and wrapped up in wise sounding therapeutic cubbies, EVEN with the “all-knowing” caveat of “of course, each process is highly individual”.
I do know you had and have NO intention of doing so, but sometimes, categorizing the grieving process in the way you did has the inadvertent effect of doing so. Please excuse my fabricated words; I usually have a more sophisticated vocabulary. For grieving, though, sophistication goes out the window, and each mourner rides a painful, oftentimes excruciatingly lonely, and sometimes deeply spiritual journey that cannot be wrapped up in any wise-sounding manner. This area is untouchable.
All your other points are terrific and on-the-mark. Please don’t take offense, and thank you for the rest of your well-spoken words.