Losing a job or a friend, a spouse, a pet is painful enough.

Add time and that pain festers.

Lose your youth, lose touch with your college friends ten years after graduating.

Or lose your health that can happen at any age contrary to popular belief.

Loss plus time to let it marinate is the formula for unhappiness.

We get stuck.

We feel empty.

A great way to look at loss is to replace every loss with some kind of gain.

A job with a better job and while you’re looking, the promise of a better job.

A long relationship is hard to replace, but more face time with friends reminds us that our personal loss is not permanent.

Even the loss of a loved one, although they cannot be replaced, can be augmented by dedicating yourself to the memories that made that person special.

Here’s the revelation.

A loss doesn’t even have to be replaced by an equal gain (say, a job for another job).  Maybe just entering a marathon or giving some of your time to the less fortunate will make you feel full for a period of time.

When we add to our lives at times when something has been taken away, it helps us not only get through it, but it’s a rehearsal for our future happiness.

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