NAVIGATING THE ART & SCIENCE OF BEING HUMAN

After a loved one dies, you may fear that you will one day be unable to recall this person’s face, voice, or mannerisms. You do not want the essence of your lost loved ones to die and become forgotten. While you cannot bring your loved one back, you can take measures to ensure that you and your close ones remember him or her in a properly way. Go ahead and use these ten tips for making sure that you honor your lost loved one for years.

10 Ways to Honor Your Lost Loved Ones

These ten tips provide innovative, creative, and meaningful ways to remember and honor friends or relatives who have passed on.

Tip 1: Plant a Tree

someone planting a tree

With proper care and attention, a single tree can live for decades. What better way to ensure the legacy of your lost loved ones than by planting a tree in their honor?

When you choose the type of tree to plant, you may find it best to select one that is sturdy and designed to withstand adverse conditions like hail and high winds. Apple, walnut, and oak are but a few varieties that will last for decades after you plant them.

Tip 2: Make a Charitable Contribution

Charities are always in need of donations. Fulfill this need and pay tribute to your lost loved ones by making a donation in their honor.

Depending on the amount that you donate, the charity might publicize the contribution and further pay honor to the lost loved ones. You can also ensure that your relative or friends’ names live on by making a recurring donation every month or year to this charity.

Tip 3: Display Old Photos

You cannot stop the passage of time after losing beloved friends and relatives. Each year that passes could dim the memories you have unless you take steps now to keep their memories alive.

You can remember their faces and perhaps even the sound of their voices and laughter by displaying pictures of your lost loved ones. Hanging pictures of your grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other loved ones who have gone before you also is a great way to teach your children about relatives they may never have met.

Tip 4: Use Their Possessions

Another great way to honor your lost loved ones involves using the things that they owned while they were alive. Furniture, quilts, rugs and even clothing like shawls, hats, and overcoats can bring back memories of when they were alive, well, and happy.

Their belongings may also invoke happy memories if the items still retain cologne, perfume, or other scents on them. You may feel like your lost loved ones are still with you when you see and use their possessions on a daily basis.

Tip 5: Name a Child after Them

You retain an important part of your heritage when you recycle family names and give them to your children. Naming a child after one of your grandparents, aunts, uncles, or other loved ones who have gone before you keeps their memory alive. It also pays tribute to them and demonstrates that even though they are gone, they are still an important part of your family.

You do not have to give your child the loved one’s name as a first name, however. You may find it better to use it as a middle name particularly if the relative or friend’s moniker is old-fashioned or a bit out of date.

Tip 6: Create an In-Home Memorial

Going to the cemetery to leave flowers can be difficult and emotional. When you want to honor a loved one who has passed, you may create a memorial to this person in your home.

The memorial can include items like the person’s portrait as well as a candle and flowers. You can keep the memorial on a bookshelf or end table in the living room as a way to honor this relative or friend.

Tip 7: Get a Tattoo

a large and beautiful gothic tattoo on the back

One of the more modern ways that people use to honor lost loved ones involves getting a tattoo of their likeness. This permanent body art serves as a reminder of what this person looked like and lets you keep the loved one close to you without having to hang up a portrait or visit a cemetery. People often get tattoos of parents, children, or other immediate relatives that they want to honor and remember.

Tip 8: Write a Poem or Short Story

When you want to bring the memory of your loved ones to life, you may try writing a poem or short story about them. You can use your creativity to honor these individuals in a manner that you find most appropriate. You also may be able to find a publisher to print your poem or short story in a local magazine or independent newspaper.

Tip 9: Create a Scholarship

If your loved one was a doctor, lawyer, dentist, teacher, or another type of professional, you can honor him or her by setting up a scholarship in this person’s name. Many colleges and universities allow people to set up scholarships for less than $10,000.

You can use the money to establish the fund. Furthermore, you can invest them and allow them to grow. It could help pay for students’ educations for years to come, solidifying your loved one’s memory and paying honor to this person each time the scholarship is awarded.

Tip 10: Talk about Your Lost Loved Ones

Finally, when you want to honor your lost loved ones in a simple yet meaningful way, you should talk about them to anyone who shows interests in hearing about them. Share stories, anecdotes, memories, and other details that you want people to know.

Tell your children about your grandparents’ home. Share memories of your relatives’ favorite meals or recipes. Talk about inside family jokes that were revealed at each family reunion. When you talk about them, their legacies live on, and you honor them by giving them a place in your children’s memories.

You cannot reverse the hands of time after you lose a loved one. However, you can take steps to make sure their legacy and memory continue. These tips can help you honor your lost loved ones. Also, this way, you will make sure that people in the future know their names.

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