Sadness is a common and kind emotion in you that wants to comfort a friend, relative, partner or acquaintance who is sad. You can help someone by showing interest (empathy, caring and appreciating feelings, for example), helping them feel better and doing certain activities with them.
Showing Interest
Come closer. To help someone who is depressed, you need to come forward to talk. How to do the approach depends on the relationship with the person. Get closer and start a conversation. You can start with something trivial like, "Hello, how are you?" If he simply responds “well”, say he looks sad and offers to talk. If the person rejects the offer, respect the decision. Be understanding and be available if he wants to come out. You can try a different approach later, if you wish. Offer protection. Say you are there to support him. Say how much you care about his well -being. Offer help and try to break the ice with something like, "I know you're sad. I'm here for you". Ask what you can do to help. Try saying something like, “I want to help in some way. Can I help you with anything? We can talk if you want ". Show compassion. Being aligned with the emotions of others is part of being empathetic. If she is sad, show concern. Try to see yourself here to understand these emotions. Do not laugh if the person is sad or crying. Express love and understanding. Use physical contact: offer a hug or hold her hands, if it will make her comfortable and appropriate. You can also ask if you can give a hug. Appreciate the emotion. Many people sadly respond to adversity, which can be normal in a complex situation. Appreciating or neutralizing grief can help you replace the feeling of discouragement with acceptance. Say something like, "I understand you're sad, there's perfect sense in this complicated situation. I'm sorry you went through this." Don’t try to suppress emotions. Never say something like “Don’t be sad”. This type of comment diminishes other people’s feelings. Another way to neutralize emotion is to clarify grief, sadness and loss. Try to explain that the feelings of rejection, anger and other emotions inherent in grief are completely normal in this type of situation. Let her cry. Crying can increase the feeling of well-being by releasing trapped emotions. Encourage the person to let the emotion flow. Stay with her once crying. Offer him a handkerchief, strike his back (if appropriate) or encourage him to take it all out. One thing that is appropriate to say is, “It's okay to cry. It’s good to let go of how you feel every now and then. " Avoid making comments that ask her to stop crying. The signal you send when you say something like this does not properly release your emotion and you are bothered by his grief. Actively listen. Active listening is putting total focus on other people and their experience. Don’t think about what to say next, just listen to what he says. Ask clear questions to show that you are attentive to the conversation. You might say, "As far as I understand, your grief is because you lost your dog and you want to find it, right?" Make room. Respect other people’s space and preferences. If she doesn’t want to talk about the issue that is bothering her, it can still help her get along well by doing the activity together. To show that you understand the need for space, you could say, “I understand if you don’t want to talk or if you want to be alone. I am here for you if you want to chat or make."
Helping the person feel better
Be optimistic and hopeful. You cannot be filled with the grief of others. You need to adjust your emotions and not be impressed, otherwise you will not be able to help those who really need it. Take a break from the conversation first. One reason you have to go to the bathroom, for example. Take a deep breath and release your emotions as well. Offer a gift. According to the five languages of love, many people see gifts as a way to show love and support. A gift can cheer up someone who is sad, and the behavior shows that you care about him or her. Give gifts such as flowers, a card, or your favorite chocolate. If you are short of money, write a letter or make a gift yourself. Help to change negative thinking. Negative thoughts (and fiction) can increase grief or guilt. Some people tend to personalize events or situations, and this can end up creating unnecessary negative emotions. An example of what one might think: "It's my fault that Fido ran away." Help him redirect this kind of thinking by offering alternatives and gently disagree. You can say something like, "You love your dog and you do everything for him. Maybe he just left and can't find his way home." Some people try to predict events in a negative way, saying things like "I'll never find my dog." This thought was useless, because he did not know what would happen. You can say, gently, something like, “Are there no more possibilities to see you? Hopefully we can bring him back.” Avoid blaming others. Encourage the person to focus on the situation rather than thinking about how others contributed to the problem. In addition to increasing anger, thinking will only prevent frustration from resolving. Help solve the problem. Sometimes grief prevents the person from thinking rationally and managing to resolve the conflict. Encourage him to look at emotions as a source of information. Sadness says something is wrong and needs to be resolved. Then, you can help him think of an alternative to try to solve the problem. For example, if the dog lost the person, you might say, “Let's think of a solution. What do you think we should do first? ” Offer possible solutions. You could say, for example, "I have an idea! Why don't we call the animal shelters to see if anyone has seen him?"
Doing Tasks Together
Encourage positive coping mechanisms. Try to help by finding healthy ways to deal with a problem. It is a way of dealing with negative feelings and situations and being able to express yourself without causing more pain or harm. Some examples of these mechanisms for dealing with grief are: religious or spiritual activities, creative (artistic) exercise, activities related to nature, physical training or meditation. Avoid alcoholic beverages or excessive substances. In addition to being dangerous, none of these will help to reduce grief. To alleviate the use of beverages or medications, offer alternatives. You might say, "I've read that drinking alcohol as a way to deal with a problem ends up creating another and reduces the ability to deal with emotions and the situation itself. Why don't we just watch a comedy film ?" Interfere with the person. Sometimes people talk about a situation and hold on to negative thoughts. Interrupt your friend to help him or her alleviate that feeling. Some examples that can help with distraction: watching a fun movie, listening to live music, dancing, naming things in the room and playing a game. Spend more time together. Spending time with the person can be a comfort and a huge support to them. Support is important to help a person overcome grief. Do creative activities. Some ideas are painting, drawing, playing musical instruments, writing music and making candles. Enjoy nature. Have a picnic in a nice place. Go to the beach and relax on the sand. Exercise. A run, or just a walk, are great options.
Awww....that maybe helpful. Thank you