While grief can be challenging to go through, there are certain things that you can do to help ease the pain of losing someone you hold dear. One of the best ways to help process your grief is by taking the time to honor those who have passed on.

Honoring your deceased loved ones can help you to feel closer to them, as it allows you to take the time to remember them fondly. When you’re deep in the throes of grief, it can feel overwhelming to come up with the perfect way to honor your loved one on your own. We’re here to lend a helping hand with some ideas on how to remember those who have passed while honoring your own grieving process.

Lay Them to Rest With Dignity

The first step in saying goodbye to a loved one is laying them to rest. If your loved one left behind a will detailing how they’d like to be laid to rest, it’s best to follow their wishes and allow them to be memorialized how they wanted. However, sometimes a will isn’t in place at the time of a person’s passing, and the decision may fall to you to figure out how to properly memorialize your loved one.

There are a number of ways to lay a person to rest. If you think your loved one would prefer to have their body preserved, you can arrange for them to be put to rest in a casket. You’ll need to arrange a graveyard plot; alternatively, sometimes a person will have a family plot where their body can reside with the rest of their loved ones. A funeral home can assist you in planning everything that you need for a casket burial.

If a burial isn’t what your loved one would want, an alternative is cremation, a process by which a body is burned to produce ashes known as cremains. Cremains are most often stored within an urn or decorative box to preserve them. A loved one may have indicated to you that they wanted their ashes scattered; this means removing the ashes from the urn and letting them go at a location that had personal significance to them.

However, if your loved one has been cremated, it doesn’t mean that their ashes need to remain in that form. There are a number of innovative ways that cremains can be used to remember a loved one. For instance, Eterneva is a company that turns small portions of cremains into diamonds that can be set in a ring or necklace that you can wear to keep a piece of your loved one with you wherever you go. Eterneva diamonds are made by using only about half a cup of ashes. Carbon is removed from the ashes that you send in and is put in a lab where it is grown into an Eterneva diamond. From there, the raw diamond is cut and set to your liking. Eterneva diamonds can also be colored and engraved, so you can remember your loved one with a diamond that suits their memory. Eterneva diamonds are an innovative way to keep your loved ones memory alive for years to come.

Host a Memorial for Those They Held Dear

While grieving is an individual journey, that doesn’t mean you have to go through it alone. Hold a memorial to remember your loved one and invite friends and family who held your loved one dear as well. Memorials are a great way to connect with others who are grieving the same person and remember the one you loved together. You can share stories of times spent with your loved one and hear stories from others that you might not have before. Memorials are a beautiful way to honor your loved one with a community of people that cared for them.

Look Back on Happy Memories

You shared countless happy memories with the person you lost. Honor those memories by looking back on them; place old photos and letters in a scrapbook that you can turn to when you start to miss your deceased loved one. You can also create a digital scrapbook by uploading your photos to a photo sharing app. That way, you can share your memories with others who knew the person, and they can upload their own memories to share with you.

In Conclusion

It’s natural to struggle with grief after a loved one passes. Honoring your loved one can help you feel closer to them, even after they're gone. You can turn their ashes into Eterneva diamonds, host a memorial for them, or take the time to look back on happy memories. However you choose to preserve your loved one’s memory, you can rest assured they’re with you in spirit wherever you go.