In your heart the ones you loved that have sadly moved on from this earth will always hold a dear place in your heart and live on forever in your memories. They will never truly leave you. But sometimes you have that awful feeling that you will gradually start to forget what the features of their face looked like or the distant sound of their voice. Whilst you cannot bring them back to life there are small things you can do to try and preserve their lasting image if you ever worry that you will someday wake up and completely forget what they looked like.
Photos are an integral part of triggering this memory process. Whether it’s having a framed photo on your mantel above the fire, a screensaver image on your phone, ordering some memorial jewelry, putting together an album of photos where you shared various different happy memories with your loved one or having a painting commissioned. They are all various examples of how you can preserve their everlasting memory in a more permanent way for you to look back on.
Memorial Jewelry
The benefits of memorial jewelry are that they are lightweight and portable, so it is extremely easy for you to carry along with you whether on your persons or in your pocket or wallet. They can vary from memorial necklaces, fingerprint jewelry, pendant displays, and various rings, so the options are most certainly available if this is something that you think you would like to do, to honor their memory and you would literally be holding them close your chest in the case of the necklace options which is somewhat poignant.
Things you can do to remember loved ones
Other things you could do to deal with your grief is to sort through the person’s possessions as soon as you feel ready to tackle this. You might find you want to do this immediately after they have passed, or you might prefer to wait until you feel strong enough to deal with this.
It can be therapeutic, particularly if you can store some of their personal belongings somewhere where you might feel you want to have easy access to look at. For example, like a favorite book of theirs, or an item of clothing they would wear often, that still encapsulates their personal fragrance or an award/trophy they had achieved that you can display with pride.
There is no one way to deal with grief and what you find is optimum for you is the route you could perhaps take.
The soothing benefits of music
Music is also another tool that can evoke many memories in the brain. There can be occasions when you hear a particular song on the radio and immediately you are taken back to that particular moment in time, when you previously heard it and it’s as though it just happened yesterday, or you are suddenly reliving the moment all over again.
Potentially also listening to a song or piece of music that evokes happy, positive memories can still have a beneficial effect by the feel-good release of dopamine in the brain which can occur whilst listening to music. So, if you find yourself feeling slightly more optimistic or elated after listening to music, there could be a scientific reason for this and not just emotional.
Channeling that inner love towards a pet
Another avenue that could be potentially useful, is to consider getting a pet if you have the ability, to take care of one of course. Having for example a dog or cat to look after will keep your mind focused on loving and nurturing the animal and could be a good stress relief too. You might find that you will feel better when you cuddle them, and they demonstrate affection towards you for taking good care of them.
It will also enable you to get out of the house for some exercise, if you need to take the dog for a walk, which is another positive benefit for your mental wellbeing, or having to chase the cat around the house playing fetch would also be a form of exercise and keep your mind busy. Animals are also known to help alleviate stress which could most certainly be regarded as a positive, particularly if you are finding it difficult to deal with your current grief.
Connecting with nature
Another idea you could do to remember your loved one is perhaps planting a tree or plant in their honor. It could be either their personal favorite flower, or their birth flower perhaps. Mother nature would be a good reminder of the cycle of life. Although your loved one is no longer on this earth, their memory will live on each year with the natural season when the flowers bloom, die and then are reborn again.
Open up your emotions
Another beneficial thing you could do is talk and open up to someone else. It does not have to be someone that directly knew that person, it’s the therapeutic aspect of relaying all your inner emotions and describing aspects of that loved one that is no longer with you that brings them to life again, at least even for a little while. if talking and getting things off your chest is what is important.
A problem shared is indeed a problem solved. You do not want to just bottle up all your emotions again and again until the point where you just have a complete nervous breakdown. Whilst it is an extremely sad challenging time to overcome your loss towards a loved one, if at any point you can turn anything into a positive then it is surely a good thing. Time is a healer, and you will one day smile again like you used to.
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