Monthly Archives: June 2022

Grief During the Holidays

Cremation services Willoughby Hills, OH, and losing someone close to your heart is a very difficult experience in life. Often, the first holiday season without the loved one is the toughest.

No matter where you’re spending the holidays, the unexpected swells of grief can threaten to overwhelm anyone. Looking at the empty seat where the deceased would sit and missing all their joyful talks and life-lessons can take a toll on you.

If you’re experiencing grief for the lost loved one, here are some tips on how to navigate the busy holiday season healthily and positively:

1. Don’t Suppress Your Emotions

Many people try to hide or run away from their feelings. That is not a good idea. It’s natural to feel a mix of confusing emotions including anger, sadness, guilt, or regret. Always express your emotion and let your soul feel everything which is the first step towards beginning to work through your grief journey.

You may need a private space to get hold of yourself but try to be open with your friends about how you are feeling. Don’t come too hard on yourself and give freedom to yourself to feel everything – good and bad. It is going to ease the grief journey.

2. Reminisce the Happy and Good Memories

Psychologists argue that sharing some of your favorite memories of the deceased proves to ease the grief journey.

Because it’s the holidays, it’s better to focus on positive memories. So, try to bring up some funny and happy memories, not just the loss, with the people around you. Doing so will also include your loved ones in the festivities of the holiday season.

3. Understand the Grief Process

Grief is not a linear process and it’s completely natural to feel a mix of emotions. Generally, there are five stages of grief, namely: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

These phases are independent of the timeframe and can occur in any order. Just because a person has moved on quickly does not imply that you should have also gotten past the grief journey. Remember that no two persons grieve in the same way. Instead of indulging in numbing or unhealthy activities, try to acknowledge your loss and spend more time in the company of your loved ones.

4. How to Cope with Grief

It’s too common to experience overwhelming grief during your first holiday season without the loved one. Try to cope with it positively and focus on things you can control.

If certain family traditions are too difficult for you, just say no. Set healthy boundaries and get involved in activities that make you happy such as watching or playing your favorite sports, going out on a hike, and so on.

Remember that no one deserves to be alone and cope with grief during the holiday season. But certain things are beyond your control, so make your peace with them. Give yourself the space to acknowledge your emotions, be they happy or sad. Things will get better after cremation services Willoughby Hills, OH. Contact us today.

Understanding Green Funerals in 2022

Recent surveys show a visible rise in the number of families opting for green funerals at funeral homes Willoughby Hills, OH, as a method of their loved one’s final disposition. Many Americans are now open to choosing green funerals as a natural alternative to traditional burying or cremation.

For many people, a green funeral means much more than a trend for a loved one’s end-of-life celebrations. Let us deep dive into what green funeral means and why it has become an emerging trend within the funeral industry.

What is a Green Funeral?

Green funeral is the internment of a dead body in a way that doesn’t affect its natural decomposition – allowing the body to recycle naturally. Green burials are eco-friendly and aim to have as little impact on nature as possible.

The reason why many families are preferring green funerals to traditional burials is that the former doesn’t include burning bodies, using harmful embalming liquids, and steel-made caskets.

Instead, the body is placed in a biodegradable container and lowered into the soil. The objective is to allow complete decomposition of the body and its natural return to the soil.

Reasons Why You Should Consider Green Funerals?

Below are some common reasons justifying why more people should choose green funerals:

1. It is Environmental-Friendly

With climate change making headlines, an increasing number of individuals are becoming environmentally conscious and are seeking out new ways to reduce the impact on the environment in every way possible. Having a green funeral for the lost loved one is a great way to honor the deceased as well as lessen the negative impact on nature.

With a green funeral, you don’t need embalming chemicals, other toxic chemicals, or a metal-made container to bury the body. All the equipment used is made of biodegradable material like wood, which naturally decomposes over time.

2. It Saves Precious Natural Resources

Advocators of green funerals posit that traditional burials or cremations are a gross waste of materials. Millions of gallons of embalming fluid and millions of tons of concrete are buried along with the dead bodies in America annually.

Green burial foregoes concrete vaults and embalming chemicals and saves precious resources for your coming generations.

3. Preserve Wildlife

In theory, everyone should prefer methods that preserve the threatened species. Green burials natural burial sites and green cemeteries have little impact on the natural habitat of wildlife.

Such sites encourage the preservation of shrubs, trees, and wildflowers and provide the same food chain and refuge to animals and birds as available before. Many Green cemeteries don’t use even fertilizers and pesticides.

Traditional funerals, on the other hand, contaminate the soil and natural habitat of animals by releasing chemicals in the soil or air which causes many species to look for alternative habitats.

4. Green Funeral is a Cheaper Alternative

The families don’t need to spend anything on buying caskets, concrete vaults, or embalming chemicals while planning for a green burial. As per the National Funeral Directors Association, an average green burial is often less expensive than traditional funerals at funeral homes Willoughby Hills, OH. Contact us today.

How to Preplan Your Funeral Services

The last couple of decades has witnessed a remarkable increase in the trend of people choosing a preplanned funeral or cremation services Waite Hill, OH. It is a great option for people who want to relieve their families of the stress and uncertainty of arranging the final services.

Having your wishes known to the family and paying for them in advance brings great relief to you and your loved ones. If you’re planning to plan your own funeral services and having a tough time deciding where to get started, then consider the below tips.

Should You Preplan or Not?

The first question that comes to mind is whether or not you should go for pre-planning. If you want to make your last service memorable and creative without putting an extra burden on your family, then preplanning is right for you.

When the loved ones already know in detail how you wanted the funeral service to proceed, it will give them emotional solace. They won’t have to worry about whether the service fulfills your desires and rather can spend more time mourning and interacting with visitors.

Also, preplanning gives you a gift of time and you can jot down the specific items and services you would like to be included in your funeral. Plus, you can pay a part of or in-full for all the services which saves you a lot of money if you consider ever-increasing inflation. All these points justify why you should contact a funeral director and start preplanning sooner than later.

How Do You Start Preplanning?

Start by articulating a thorough and well-thought-out plan for:

Writing a complete obituary or simply put down the information you want to include in it. Choosing where it should appear like newspaper, social media, etc.
Placing all the paperwork pertaining to your financial and personal information in one place.
Cremation, burial, mausoleum, or which other types of funeral service do you prefer.
Making a contact list of attendees
Finalize who will deliver the eulogy
Type of casket if burial, or type of urn if you choose cremation
Your cemetery lot location
Music collection, if you want
Shop for the funeral home; take quotes from at least three homes, and compare their packages and quality of services before finalizing your decision. Then, jot down its contact details.

Shopping for other services like floral arrangements, Pallbearers, reading holy scripture, or other readings.

Clearly mention all additional activities that you want in your end-of-life celebrations.

Including Your Family in Preplanning

It’s important to appraise your family of all your wishes and details of your plans. You should give a copy of complete information including instructions and financial details of your funeral planning to a trusted family member or a close friend. Make sure your representative has a list of your bank accounts, insurances, debts and mortgages, accountant firms and mortuaries, and more.

Hopefully, you’ll be able to steer through the preplanning process. Now, you can have peace of mind knowing that all your final wishes will be honored after you die without putting an extra burden on your family. Cremation services Waite Hill, OH, can easily be arranged.

Amazing Facts About Funerals

Funeral homes Waite Hill, OH, and funerals are emotionally-charged topics and not many people prefer to talk about it – until they have to attend one.

Give this, we have handpicked some of the very interesting and surprising facts about a funeral service that you should know.

1. It’s Not Necessary to Hire a Funeral Director – But It Can Help

With the abundance of information available on the internet, you can arrange the whole funeral service by yourself. But it can be emotionally challenging to look after dozens of tasks at a time when you’re overwhelmed by grief and stress. No wonder, most families tend to get the services of a funeral director.

But that’s not mandated. If you have relevant experience or if you’re confident about handling all the tasks, then go for it. Starting from registering the death, issuing a certificate, and transporting the body, you can very well do it on your own with assistance from your friends and family.

However, we recommend readers get the services of a professional and experienced funeral director to ensure everything goes as planned.

2. Funerals Costs Vary

Funerals can be really expensive, but you can choose a customized, simple service to reduce the cost. Saving money on the deceased’s final service doesn’t mean that you love them any less. Rather the decision is influenced by your budgetary allocations as well as what services you want to add to a funeral.

Many funeral homes offer a wide array of funeral packages to let you choose a preferable option. Often, these packages include extra services that you don’t even want.

Instead of going for the complete funeral package, shop for individual items. With just a little effort, you can save considerably on buying services/products such as caskets, flowers, gravestones, catering, and more. Moreover, you can skip viewing and memorial services to make it a simple service.

3. You can Have Both Cremation and Burial

That must have surprised you a lot, isn’t it? With the ever-increasing trend of families choosing cremation over traditional burials as a type of final disposition, many people don’t know that one can have a burial service after the cremation if they wanted.

Many people display urns (containing cremated remains) instead of a casket and also bury the cremated remains at the deceased’s favorite place or a natural site. Simply put, cremation offers you a range of funeral options.

4. Embalming is Not Necessary in All Cases

Embalming is the practice of adding certain chemicals to the deceased’s body to slow down the natural effects of death or decomposition of the body. Contrary to what many people believe, embalming is not compulsory by law in many cases.

You can proceed with the funeral service without embalming the body if the body has to be cremated or buried quickly after death.

However, if you choose to hold the viewing service or the body needs to be transported from far-off places, then embalming becomes mandatory to slow down the decomposition of the body at funeral homes Waite Hill, OH.

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