Life Stories help families heal their Grief.

I have heard many wonderful life stories as I’ve met with families to plan a meaningful life celebration for a family member.    I ask them to recall their favorite stories and memories about the person who has died.    Recounting these life stories is important because it makes them smile.  The simple act of recalling something that makes them smile or laugh is one the best “medicines” they have at a time of loss t o help heal their grief.

It is surprising that many people can recall only a few of the stories about their parents.  Grandchildren may remember only about 25% of the stories about their grandparents.  The inability to remember many of these cherished stories can be detrimental to the family’s ability to recover from the loss of a family member. That is why  it is so important to have an individual’s life stories written or recorded so they can be shared and passed down to others so they won’t be forgotten.

Pray Funeral Home has a program called BeRemembered that is an easy to use and secure website that helps an individual record their many stories and favorite memories.  The site brings together a number of helpful modules that help a person to write their own biography.  Some of the other interesting areas encourage you to record your own words of wisdom to share and guide others.  Some prefer to write their own experiences in the form of their “Bucket List,” or wish list of things to do or accomplish.   The pages on the site encourage you to do these in a fun and engaging way.

Another area of the Be Remembered site helps a person write out their ideas for a life celebration ceremony that incorporates these stories. This is a wonderful benefit for their family and friends.  The ideas can be shared as helpful pre planing preferences with family members that the user appoints as a guardian for the site to share.

Pray’s are sponsoring the first of several free programs and workshops on  Be Remembered and other forms of recording your stories. The first program will be Thursday January 21^st at 7:00 PM at AL!VE, 800 West Lawrence.  Refreshments will be provided.   To make a reservation call Joe E Pray at 517 543 2950.