After cremations as part of the cremation services offered in Dayton, OH, you will start down the road of grieving for the loved one you have lost. While much of the road can be paved with pain, sorrow, sadness, and, perhaps, even regrets, the end of that road can bring some surprisingly positive benefits and lead to some unexpected choices as you move forward with your life.
One of the things that grieving a loved one who has died does is make you stop. No matter where you are in life or what you are doing, grief will stop you dead in your tracks. What accompanies this pause is a lot of reflection and introspection on the meaning of life, on your own life, and on what matters in the light of the end of a life that was dear to you.
Often, we get caught up in the momentum of our adult lives to such a degree that we never take the time to evaluate what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, or if we want to be doing it. Our lives sometimes just pick a path and take it, without our awareness of the trajectory that it is leading us toward.
When we pause in the shadow of death, we have a rare opportunity to take a long, hard, and honest look at where our lives have been, where our lives are, and where we want them to be. What we find may be surprising.
We may find that our lives are completely out of balance and that we’re devoting too much time to one area of our lives – which may not be worthy of it – while ignoring other areas of our lives that we should be paying attention to.
We may also find that where we are is not where we imagined we would be when we were younger or is not where we want to be as we move forward to the future. We may revive old dreams or we may find, as a result of our experience with the death of our loved one, that we want to take a completely new direction in our lives.
One of the things that we often do is adapt to our surroundings as we move through adulthood, and, in the process, we may lose the essence of who we are. So, as we stop after death, we may discover that we’ve become someone we don’t recognize or that we don’t want to be, which causes our focus to shift to change. We can then begin the process of working to become a better and more authentic version of ourselves.
Another positive benefit of grief is that it can give us time to identify what matters most to us and in life. As we remember the life of our loved one, we can focus on what made them so special and what it was about their values and principles that made their impact on us, on those around them, and on the world so profound.
As we glean these things from our loved one’s life, we can compare those things we respect and admire with our own lives, and it can help us identify what we want to be remembered for and what kind of impact we want to leave on our families, those around us, and on the world.
For more information about grief and cremation services offered in Dayton, OH, our caring and knowledgeable staff at Glickler Funeral Home & Cremation Service is here to assist you. You can visit our funeral home at 1849 Salem Ave., Dayton, OH 45406, or you can call us today at (937) 278-4287.