RITUALS TO COMFORT YOUR SOUL/SPIRIT

Over the years, I’ve compiled a list of suggestions from the internet and various books or websites that offer a variety of ways to heal the body, mind, soul and spirit during the grief journey.  Following are suggestions to comfort your spirit and hope you take some of them to heart during your healing journey.  God be with you in the days ahead….

SUGGESTIONS TO COMFORT THE SOUL AND SPIRIT:

1) Open your mind to spiritual meditation and awareness by reading books about spiritual deepening and those that will help you embrace God, the Universe and philosophical thought.  This will expand your mental capabilities and not to focus on loss but in bringing a new kind of love into your heart.

2) Pray or meditate – in your own way.  Spend time each day in silence.  This is a comforting way to start the day.  If you can’t pray, know that your grief is a living (lived) prayer.    

3) Light candles to honor the person you lost.   Light more candles in honor of your future.  Let that light remind you of the sparkle they brought to your heart.

4) Breathe deeply and honor the gift of your life.  Be in the moment and honor what is – even if it hurts.

5) Make an altar or special place in your home dedicated to your loved one.  Include favorite photos and paintings you may have painted.  Include feathers, rocks, poetry, inspiring quotes, notes of intention, notes of love and encouragement to yourself.  Include messages you have written to the one you have lost or bring out a card they have given you.

6) Create rituals to honor death and life and to mark your passage.  Remember birthdays, anniversary dates and other significant days.  Celebrate your loved one with your family and friends.

7) Attend worship services at your church/synagogue/mosque/temple.  You may find being surrounded by others in prayer, even with strangers, may be comforting. 

8) Share your grief with someone close to you in your family or a dear friend.  Your honesty will be a relief to most people.  You may feel exposed and vulnerable, but you will not feel isolated.

9) Notice who welcomes your tears and sadness.  Reach out to those who offer support.  Accept that your grief is too much for some old friends.  Maybe they’ll be there when you’re happy again, and maybe not.  You’ll be surprised by those who reach out to comfort you.

10) If someone offers their help…take them up on it.  Have them run errands, take you to lunch or accompany you so that you don’t have to do everything alone.

11) Go to counseling, grief counseling or spiritual direction.  Chaplains, Ministers, professional counselors or therapists are wonderful resources to help you understand/process your grief. Talk to someone who knows how to listen for the wisdom and intuition beneath your sadness.  This is especially important if you have lost the person with whom you shared life’s daily life.

12) Consider joining a Bereavement Support group, which are helpful to better understand how others process their feelings of loss (do not take their grief on).  Churches, Pastoral services, hospices, hospitals, funeral homes and website resources can help connect you to bereavement support groups.

13) Follow the trail of your dreams.  If therapy isn’t possible, speak to a close friend.  Write your dreams down.  Draw them.  Make collages.  Sculpt them in clay.  Dream images will help you digest your old life and as you search to find a renewed one.

14) Grieve with your children.  Speak freely about the memories, loves, and losses you share.  Speak of your experiences so they can speak of theirs.  Cook their favorite dishes.   If they live far away, call or facetime them.

15) Watch the sunrise and/or sunset whenever possible.  You will experience firsthand that life goes on and the earth has not failed you.

16) Admire the night skies.  Notice the phases of the moon and the multitude of stars and constellations.  The size of the universe helps keep grief in context.

17) Read a Scripture passage or download a daily Scripture from your phone apps and read it every day.  There are meditation aps on your phone that really bring calm in any storm.

18) Take solace from books that help put your loss in perspective and widen the view, such as Scriptures or books like Pemo Chodrun’s “When Things Fall Apart” or Etty Hillesum’s “An interrupted Life.”  You will be reminded that loss is a universal human experience and can be our teachers.

19) Tap into your creative self.  Make or create something.  You'd be surprised by what comes out of you even during the darkest of times in your life.

"For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline."

2 Tim 1:7

For more information visit https://www.chaplainmary.net/
Or check out my book:

https://www.amazon.com/Skirting-Thin-Veil-Meaningful-Life-Changing

Photo from the internet


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