ABSTRACT
Adaptation as used implies a need to change oneself to fit new realities rather than making new realities. In adaptation, life is preserved by surrendering unachievable goals so that one may turn to new ones. Paradigmatic pictures are surrendering soldiers and the grief of bereavement. Grief seems to be a recent evolutionary phenomenon, though aspects of it have been found in elephants, birds, and primates. Symptoms of depression include maladaptive and traumatic features described, such as tiredness, withdrawal, despair and hopelessness; and aspects of pathological grief syndromes such as anger, guilt, or dependence. Grief and sorrow may be among the sweetest and most poignant affirmations of love. Truth of grief is frozen in overwhelming pain, and wisdom of regenerative grief is absent. Grief releases despair and the grip of giving in as well as frozen traumas and meanings. It allows regret and reparation and loving anew.
