Monthly Archives: June 2021

5 Facts About Cremation

Cremation services Willoughby Hills, OH, as a type of final disposition of the body has become as popular as a traditional burial. Today, almost half of Americans chose to cremate their loved ones and this trend is likely to only increase in the future.

So, if you’re planning to arrange cremation services for your lost loved one, you must read this informative guide. It includes all the information you need to know about how cremation works, giving what you need to decide whether cremation is suited to your needs.

Cremate One Body at a Time

Many people may believe that funeral homes cremate multiple bodies together. However, this is actually illegal. In addition, most cremation chambers are not big enough to hold more than one body.

However, the only exception to this rule is if the family request two or more deceased having blood relation to be cremated together. Even then, the lack of space in a cremation chamber makes the funeral home carry out cremation of more than one body side by side in separate machines.

The family can choose to have the ashes of the loved ones mixed.

There are Many Ways to Cremate

It’s a general misconception that cremation is just a straightforward burning process that ends with handing over the ashes to the family and has no room for customization. However, the cremation industry is highly innovative and advanced and offers multiple creative ways to give the best tribute to the departed soul.

Apart from direct cremation, you can consider liquid cremation and green cremation.

Liquid Cremation: It involves using water at a specific temperature and pressure to slowly melt or decompose the body. The body is reduced to a fine substance just like ashes

Green Cremation: as the name indicates, involves the decomposing body in an eco-friendly manner. Essentially, it follows the same concept as Liquid Cremation with a few extra steps to make the process as environment-friendly as possible.

You Can Have a Cremation AND Visitation

Many people believe that one can have either a funeral service and burial or cremation. It can’t be further from the truth as you don’t have to choose one or the other.

A family can decide to Cremate the body and then hold a traditional burial of the ashes. Similarly, you can choose to embalm the body and arrange a visitation before cremating it and scattering the final remains.

Weight of the Deceased Affects Final Costs

There’s no weight limit for cremation, however, the size of the body does affect the level of service for most cremation facilities. Generally, you need to pay extra fees for cremating persons weighing more than 2775-300 pounds.

Cremation Remains Are Heavier than You Think

Contrary to what you may believe, cremation remains can be fairly heavy. On average, the ashes from a woman weigh around four pounds while those of a man typically weigh closer to six pounds. The final weight of the remains can be from three pounds to as much as ten pounds depending on a person’s height and bone density, etc. When you organize cremation services Willoughby Hills, OH, you can find out more information.

How to Use Mindfulness to Cope with Grief

Funeral homes Willoughby Hills, OH, may be where you lay your loved one to rest, but that’s not where your grief ends. To move forward in life may help to turn to mindfulness.

The history of practicing mindfulness to help cope with anxiety, depression, and stress predates the ancient Greek Empire. It’s has proven to be a powerful tool for grounding yourself and take on the stress and anxiety that accompanies the loss of a loved one.

Find out more about how mindfulness can help you cope with grief.

What is Mindfulness

Mindfulness entails much more than just being aware of your surroundings. It’s a person’s ability to focus on everything that’s happening in the present, including your thoughts, emotions, and sensations.

While experiencing grief, it’s common to feel lost to a condition where everything seems equally urgent or overwhelming. You feel difficulty or even failure in prioritizing the tasks and completing them on time.

Research shows that practicing mindfulness regularly improves your cognitive sense and emotional resilience, helps you sleep better, combats anxiety, and helps you develop an attitude for self-care.

How to Practice Mindfulness

Below are some of the ways to start practicing mindfulness:

Mindful Breathing

Also known as a formal meditation, sitting peacefully and finding your breath is a great way to cultivate a state of peaceful mindfulness.

Sit in a natural, peaceful environment with minimal distractions and breathe in through your nose, hold your breath for a few seconds, and slowly breath out through your mouth. Close your eyes and imagine the lost loved one sitting beside you.

Many people love to synchronize breathing with some natural phenomenon such as music, ocean waves, or their own heartbeat. Ideally, you should sit at the same place for three to five minutes daily to develop a habit. Use a pillow or any soft surface to have support and don’t hesitate to change posture if needed.

Mindful Walking

Mindful walking is even more beneficial than mindful breathing as it involves physical exercise as well. This practice is an ideal option for people who feel isolated, depressed, or stuck while coping with grief.

Before you start walking, close your eyes for a couple of minutes and pay close attention to the natural sound, smell, and feel of the birds, winds, ground, and everything around you. Enjoy and embrace the beauty of everything around you and ponder on the natural cycle of life and death.

When you’re ready, start walking slowly and continue to observe and feel the natural beauty in your surroundings.

Join a Mindfulness Workshop

Many people prefer practicing mindfulness in a social setting to sitting alone. Seeing other people around you doing the same thing motivates you to inculcate discipline, will, and passion to develop a habit.

Look for a meditation center, a yoga center, or a counseling center in your area that offers mindfulness classes. Even in silence, you’ll feel the group energy and with it, the optimism to combat the grief and anxiety in your life.

In short, meditation requires you to acknowledge your feelings and emotions and trains you to develop the physical and emotional will and the capability to fight exhausting anxiety and grief. What’s best is that it only takes a few minutes to get started with mindfulness – and mostly, it’s free. You can find resources for additional grief strategies at funeral homes in Willoughby Hills, OH.

How to Connect to a Grieving Person

Bidding the final farewell to a loved one after cremation services Waite Hill, OH, is one of the most difficult things one can ever experience and it unleashes a rollercoaster of complicated and painful emotions. At such a time, our mourning friend or a family member needs our support more than ever.

What is Empathy?

Anyone can show sympathy with the bereaved, but being empathetic is a whole other story. In simple words, sympathy is feeling for someone while empathy is feeling with someone. That is empathy is the ability to understand and feel the emotions of someone and share their grief.

The mourning person receives sympathy from many, but empathy may be what they truly need and also expect from close friends and family. Let us discuss how you can be more empathetic

Put Yourself in Their Shoes

Grief often overwhelms a person with a range of emotions, mostly negative. At times, they may act you or behave differently but you need to understand the complexity of the situation. Practicing empathy often starts with imagining yourself in your position and thinking in the same perspective.

When you imagine that you had lost a loved one and find yourself at the receiving end of those powerful, raw emotions, you might able to understand the pain your loved one is going through. It can help you reach deep down and develop a more profound and close relation with the bereaved and share their pain.

Empathy Begins with Listening

One of the best things you can do to show empathy to your friend is by being a good listener. Listen to what they have to say about their loss and the feelings it accompanied. Don’t interrupt them and wait until they are done talking.

Even if they repeat the same story or feeling, avoid making them feel like you already know it. Give an impression that you acknowledge their emotions and grief and want to share them. Remember, grief significantly affects consciousness and the person may talk about things that sound illogical. But listen to them without being judgmental and without trying to share a similar story of your own.

Better Engage with Them

The easiest way to be empathetic is by engaging with the mourner on a deeper level. You can ask general questions to begin the conversation, such as:

“I’m sorry to hear about that.”

“I can’t believe the (name) has left us.”

“Your loved one will always be remembered.”

“He/she was such a great guy and lived life to the fullest. Their contributions to the society would never be forgotten.”

You can say one or more of the above or similar lines to initiate the conversation and go along.

Offer Practical Support

After giving empathetic condolences, ask them if there is anything you could do for them. Many people refrain to accept help but you should identify what the loved one needs at the moment and provide it to them.

You can have necessary grocery items, cooked meals, or even cash delivered to their house. Also, you can run errands for them and have their house cleaned. Try to be especially helpful after cremation services Waite Hill, OH, because that’s when other people in their lives may step away.

How to Practice Self Care While Grieving

If you need to visit funeral homes Waite Hill, OH, it’s natural to experience a rollercoaster of painful emotions. But it’s also important not to let the grief journey overcome your mental health and affect your personal and professional life.

For this reason, the bereaved need to practice self-care to cope with the grief healthily and expedite the healing process. Below is a list of some proven tips you can follow to suffer less in mind, body, and spirit during the grief journey.

Remember, you don’t have to try them all; just pick ones that feel doable and do your best to start the ball rolling.

Walk into Nature

Nothing makes your heart find peace more than a walk along a beach, into the fresh mountain air, or in a park and let your mind appreciate the beauty around you. Just getting outside for a 10-15 minutes walk can bring positivity and optimism to your life and make you strong enough to take on the complicated set of emotions.

Socialize with Friends and Family

Many people tend to combat grief by plunging into self-imposed isolation. Research shows that this further aggravates grief and can lead to clinical depression over time. That’s why you should connect regularly with friends and family, talk to them, and share your emotions with them.

If you’re not comfortable with sharing your emotions with everyone, then have a walk with a trusted friend or a close family member with whom you share mutual support. Take your time and try to reconnect with them. It’d significantly improve your physical and mental well-being and bring novelty to your life.

Indulge in Fun and Healthy Activities

It can be a challenging task for many of us while grieving – but it’s also the most important one. Now is the best time to rediscover the little fun moments to diverge your attention from the loss. It could be your favorite sports or games or reunion with close friends or listening to your favorite music.

Also, exercising daily for at least 20-30 minutes improves both your physical and mental health. Do some light-weight exercise or jog in the park without asking too much from your body.

Along with it, get enough sleep, drink plenty of water, and eat a nutritious and balanced diet to rejuvenate the lost energy and passion in your life.

Acknowledge Your Emotions and Be Kind to Yourself

Never try to hide or run away from your feeling; it only makes them worse. Grief is often very painful and complicated but there’s the only person capable of helping you handle it, and that’s you. Embrace your feelings, seek strength in yourself to fight all the odds, and treat yourself as you would treat a friend in need.

This self-compassionate attitude will make you strong enough to get past grief.

Join a Peer Support Group

If you’re unable to get control over your emotions even several months after the loss, then consider joining an emotional support group. For some, it’s natural to avoid seeking help from a third party.

Remember, it doesn’t, in any way, make you look weak or vulnerable. Nothing is more important than your mental well-being so, seek professional support if you’re being overwhelmed by the grief far too often or you believe that your support system is falling apart. Your contact at funeral homes Waite Hill, OH, can help.

BLOG