Monday, October 17, 2011

When you lose someone, you lose a whole lot more...

When someone you love passes away you don't just lose someone you love.  You are not just mourning the loss of someone's presence or memory in your life. There are reasons that person was special to you when they were alive. They brought something to your life that isn't there anymore.  In some cases it is something you chose in that person to like or love-such as someone to share a confidence in or share a love of something with. There was some sort of camaraderie or something special.  It may be shared experiences that you could converse about or share in other ways.

With a family member or long time friend it could be those shared experiences-positive or negative that you could turn to each other about or with. You lose that shared love or dislike of something. But you also lose that aspect of your life that you will have to live without. For example, if you went to the ball game with the person every season or even heard stories of yesteryear of those days, but they aren't in the present anymore, it's a loss. You lose a lot more than a person.

In my parents, I have lost links to stories of my past of my family's past. These are links to part of who we are. We have lost chances to be able to ask or listen to them. In the loss of a friend from my high school years, I lost chances to continue a relationship with her as well as to have someone who was the only other one who knew our little secret code for sharing stories about guys or life experiences.  Granted, as long as I'm here, I can pass her memory to others and to those who loved her, but I lost the potential to share those in the same way with someone.

Sometimes the loss of a person can make us lose the connections to others in our lives.  They helped us stay connected to others who possess some shared history.  We might be losing a lifestyle or shared direction in life. There are so many losses to ponder.  It is something to assess in the meaning of all that goes with the person we lost. These are aspects of ourselves.

This is written not to intensify the focus negatively on what is lost when someone dies, but more to help one just focus on all that is lost.  Identifying some of these things might help explain some of the complexity of the feelings we don't understand or why things seem to pop up from no where from the murky inner pea soup thickness of grief and its process.  We don't necessarily have to dissect all the aspects but in identifying some, it may help one grow more fully in putting our lives together as we grow in our grief. Not only does the person we lost take on new form in the process of life, but so do we in this part of our own lives. It can help us understand ourselves more fully and live life more fully. The presence of these people were a gift in our lives. One of the best things we can do in their memory is to grow from having had their presence in our lives.

The key is being open and just let it take its course. These types of things take time-their own time. Be patient with it and yourself.

I wish you peace in your journey.


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Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Light a Cyber Memorial Candle

One way you can do a personal or shared memorial for a lost loved one is to light a candle on cyberspace. There are different places to do it.  Some of the candles last a few days and some are forever. I used them when people and companion animals were in the process of dying, when they were sick and after they had passed on. It can be very comforting. For the long lasting ones, I actually google the candles using a name and other unique information to see if they are still burning and find that they are. It is comforting to me. It is a place to go remember even in the middle of the night even just to focus on the memory or issue you are thinking about, when no one else might be there, or when you just want to be alone with it.

Some candle lighting web pages even have prayer requests where you can ask others to prayer for your particular situation. They all have their own uniqueness. Some are just for pets also. You can google any number of words or phrases such as "light a candle" or "memorial candle online" , any combination or add your own. You will find different websites to try out. Some or most will make it easy to send links of your candle to others. Some have whole pages you can dedicate to a person or cause that you can invite others to join in lighting candles with you. You will find something to suit your needs out there for sure!

Here are some of my favorites:
Gratefulness.orghttp://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng 

http://www.lightingacandle.org/

Small Miracles Foundation- Pregnancy Loss and Related

A very open minded site http://virtual-candle.org/index.php

Feel free to check back for I will probably add more in the future.  Also, let me know what you think in the comments below. If you have any thoughts or suggestions-whether it is more links or ideas how to make it more meaningful, please share. We are here to help each other. Feel free to share a personal experience!

I hope this day finds you more at peace than the day before.
Mary Ellen

You may find a blank card with a beautiful picture at Lifescapes where you can design a sympathy card, or other design a note card with your own text to your own personal specifications. 

Please follow this blog through e-mail at the top right corner of this page, follow by liking our FB page .
You can also follow through Networked Blogs or Google Friend Connect on the right side panel of the page!