This week, it’s a guest post from Beautiful Tribute, a company (from across the pond, no less) offering free online memorials (to people from anywhere, pond or no pond).
‘A Vote for the Fun Ways to Truly Celebrate a Life Well Lived’
by Victoria Bates
Beautiful Tribute Advisor
We give so much importance to staying positive and practising gratitude when going through a difficult time. We face harsh breakups, job losses and family feuds, and most of the time, our positive energy sees us through the storm. But when dealing with the death of a loved one, a simple shift in mind-set doesn’t always seem to work.
It is only natural, if not healthy, to grieve when we lose someone dear to us. But what we need to do is add in some practical and fun celebrations to change the healing process, so here are some of our favourite ways to celebrate a life well lived.
Have a ‘Celebration of Life’ ceremony.
Ask a close friend/family member how they would like to be remembered when they pass. More often than not you will hear something along the lines of “I want a party thrown when I die” or “I want people to remember the good things”. So how many of you are really celebrating these ‘good things’ in an atmosphere filled with all-black attire and people crying?
Of course, have your time to mourn at a funeral, but don’t forget to reminisce on the happy moments! A celebration of life ceremony will do just this! Remember, this part of the healing process aims to honour the deceased in a joyful manner. You need to prepare yourself to talk, laugh and even dance! Yes… it’s a party!
Food – What was their favourite food? Burgers? Ice-cream? If you’re going to remember the good stuff, you’ve got to experience the good stuff! Be sure to have their favourite dishes present, to which family/friends can commemorate them over.
Their favourite songs – at least one person in the room is sure to associate joyful memories with these songs and their loved one, and smile a little. Maybe even break out into laughter! What better way to share a funny story and spread the smile!
Photos – Ask close friends/family to bring any photos they have – go through these photos and tell a story! Make it funny! Make it adventurous! Make people remember that their loved one lived a good life filled with excitement! This could help alleviate some of the pain when grieving.
Take John Lennon. When he passed away, more than 100,000 people gathered in New York to celebrate his life with Beatles music playing and his merchandise on sale – you don’t need to stay at home and grieve in order to pay tribute to a loved one just because society says so! Remember, there are no rules! A celebration of life ceremony should reflect a loved one in a positive way, even if this means playing games or going on holiday!
Fundraise in memory of a loved one.
Typically, money raised from a fundraiser gets donated to a charity. However, at fundraising in memory site Beautiful Tribute, we’ve seen a rise in the amount of funds going towards more personal and extravagant events that the loved one enjoyed. Did they take up skiing? Did they love rock and rolling to a Michael Jackson concert? What was their favourite holiday spot? What better way to honour them than to live in their memory and do these things!
The thing is, when someone passes, we tend to just talk about what they enjoyed doing. And before you know it, that memory is gone, onto the next. So instead of the usual ‘sit down and reminisce’ tribute, why not create a fundraiser to fund an event close to their heart. What’s more, you’ve just turned what is supposed a dark and depressing period into a positive healing process!
An important message.
What you should take away from this is; honouring someone’s life doesn’t necessarily mean spending your time feeling depressed and dull until the pain lessens. This isn’t the norm anymore! In fact, to celebrate a loved one’s life in these fun and personal ways will help to channel the pain into positive energy!