Mindfulness and Grief

Memorial Funeral Home • March 20, 2022

When experiencing grief after a funeral service, things can easily feel hopeless. If you've exhausted all options, we highly suggest trying out mindfulness.

Grief is an easily overwhelming state of mind to find yourself in. From processing your emotions to speaking with others about your thoughts and feelings, it can be frustrating when nothing seems to alleviate the pain you are experiencing. Fortunately, there are more solutions at people’s disposal when they find themselves grieving. Mindfulness is a unique technique that has done wonders for a lot of people struggling with grief. If you are interested to learn more about this practice, read on! Our funeral homes in Alamo, TX are experts at guiding our customers through the funeral planning process after a loved one has passed. Call us today to learn more!

Mindfulness and Grief

When facing grief after the death of a loved one, it is perfectly normal to go through a period of complicated and conflicting emotions. Typically, most people take the time to process their emotions and may reach out to family, friends, or a grief support group for people to talk to and bond with over shared experiences. While all of these techniques are very helpful in combating the feelings of grief, they don’t work for everybody. If you are someone who has utilized these many options and has not found any relief, we suggest looking into mindfulness! Mindfulness and mediation are often used interchangeably, although they both mean two very separate things. Mindfulness is the practice of being aware of only one thing, such as your breathing, while mediation is the practice of being aware of absolutely nothing.

Mindful Breathing

Now that we’ve got what mindfulness is all about squared away, let’s discuss how you can practice mindful breathing in order to cope with difficult emotions and feelings. We suggest finding a comfortable location, although this is not absolutely necessary as mindfulness can be practiced virtually anywhere. Once you’ve found a suitable location you can then close your eyes and begin concentrating all of your focus on your breath. Focus deeply on each inhale followed by each exhale. As a tip, try imagining that with each inhale you take your body filling with air and positive energy, and once you are on your exhale, imagine all of the negativity leaving your body. Do this for however long you need until you reach a calm state of mind. Once you’ve found a rhythm within your breaths, you can confidently say that you have officially practiced mindful breathing!

Meditation

Meditation is a little similar to mindfulness, although not entirely! Find a comfortable location before beginning, close your eyes, and begin by mindfully breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. Since we want to veer away from making this entire exercise only about mindful breathing, eventually you are going to begin shifting your focus away from your breathing and any thoughts. Try clearing your mind as best as you can, focusing on nothing in particular, just be present. As a note, it is absolutely normal that meditation will be extremely difficult in the beginning, as it’s natural for our brains to think a million thoughts at once, especially when we attempt to tell it not to. Simply acknowledge each thought without frustration and then push it away and re-empty your mind.

Our funeral homes in Alamo, TX are ready to work with you!

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