When you've lost someone, daily life is disrupted. How can you just go on? But you will, eventually, and routine can be a saving grace.

You may find that nature is especially healing now. If you already have habits that bring you close to nature—walks in a park or caring for houseplants—it's a good idea to keep them up.

If your time with plants (or dirt, sand, rocks, lakewater, seawater, or mountain views) is rare and precious, think about giving yourself the gift of more. Can you go to the park every Sunday? Plan a month working remotely in a beautiful spot. You may find you get more work done that way. Grieving can slow us down and a nurturing environment can help you focus.

Can you create a garden in your backyard, patio, balcony, or windowsill? Bereavement experts speak of “grief gardening”—there's something about contact with dirt that literally helps us "ground."

Establishing your own link with nature is a way to honor a loved one who was a nature lover. Maybe you stayed indoors while your wife gardened. Now, can you keep those plants flourishing? Doing the work yourself will bring you closer to her. But even hiring people to maintain her garden is a testimony to your love. You can also put plaques and statues outside that make your garden a kind of memorial. Indoors, you can put her photograph among her plants.

Nothing has to happen right away. A year from now, you can start your garden. Grieving has its own rhythm and everyone grieves a bit........

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