Death is understood and accepted as the collective destiny of all living beings. Take the time to connect with your loved ones and establish an end-of-life plan. Tragedies often come out of nowhere. They are unexpected, unwanted, and in many cases, unimaginable. Creating an end-of-life plan does not mean that just because we know death is coming we look forward to or accept it. Once death does come then it is time to handle it. Many emotions happen to death. The grief of a loved one can be overpowering. That is why it is important to have a goodbye ritual. We are going to be writing goodbye letters to say goodbye. This ritual will help you to move past your grief. Many people have a fear of dying. They will avoid discussing, thinking about, or planning for their deaths. It is important to discuss death so that you and your loved ones are prepared. With the advancements in science, many important things need to be discussed. medications and medical practices have reduced most of the physical pain associated with dying. From do-not-resuscitate orders, life support, power of attorney, and decision maker for the dying care plan. These are tough decisions that need to be discussed. It is also important to not just discuss these things but put them in legal writing. Preparing a living will, and will. In a living will include your DNR, and when to end life support. Beliefs and practices concerning death vary through different cultures. In Hindu texts, death is described as the individual eternal spiritual jiva-atma exiting the current temporary material body. The soul exits this body when the body can no longer sustain the conscious self. Death has also had symbolic representations such as the Grim Reaper, Azrael, the Hindu God Yama, and Father Time. In Hinduism they believe during conception, the soul enters a compatible new body based on the remaining merits and demerits of one's karma and the state of one's mind at the time of death. Some religions hold the belief that the body is of no importance after death. The Vajrayana Buddhist belief of "transmigration of spirits," teaches that respecting the body after death is not needed because it is just an empty vessel. I have been especially intrigued by the Mongolian and Tibetan culture's "sky burial." They would place the body of the deceased on a high usually on mountain regions and were left unprotected to be consumed by wildlife and the elements. In one period of time, the dead were feared because they might harm the living. Many early burial rites and customs were meant to appease the spirits who were thought to have caused the person's death. The custom of shutting the eyes of the deceased is believed to close a "window" from the living world to the spirit world. In the 19th century, the dead were carried out of the house feet first, to prevent the spirit from looking back into the house. This was so that they couldn't see where they were going and would be unable to return. Mirrors were also covered, usually with black fabric, so the soul would not get trapped unable to pass to the other side. Family photographs were turned face-down to prevent any of the relatives and friends of the deceased from being possessed by the spirit of the dead. Not everyone gets the luxury of saying goodbye before a person dies. Even when you do saying goodbye to a loved one can be a hard thing to do. It can be very emotional to say goodbye to someone that has passed. Performing a farewell ritual is healing. Allowing yourself to look at the loss face to face is the first sign of acceptance. In this ritual, we will be writing a letter of gratitude to him or her for the happy times you shared. Goodbye RitualLight a candle, write a letter saying goodbye to your loved one.
I suggest writing it all big or little. All of these great memories have shaped you. It is important to recognize and honor how that person made an impression on you. If you are angry at your loss add that into the letter. You cannot move forward in your grief without letting go of these feelings. This can be a very cathartic feeling. Embrace the emotions as they come. Embrace your emotions, then let them go. When processing grief, it's important not to judge your emotions. When you finish writing your goodbye letter, be sure and include the date. This ritual will capture the moment in time when you decided to move past your grief. Take the farewell letter and set it on fire as a sign of goodbye. As you say the letting go blessing visualize one last moment saying goodbye to them. We honor this time you had with us We give thanks for the gifts that you have given us in our lifetime. We give thanks for the memories that we created together. We have been honored to be a part of your life.
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As a mom of three boys who go to public school I started to notice that some things were not being taught in detail so I decided to create lessons for them. Many of these lessons cover science, history and of information about Paganism. I share crafts for the all different holidays and cultures as ways that they can learn and have fun at the same time.
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