Living Eulogies

What if we had Living Eulogies? Celebrating our loved ones while they are still here.  I thought to start a business where we can celebrate, write eulogies and share from our hearts while people are still around to hear the wonderful things we say when they pass away. Perhaps knowing how loved they are will change someone's outlook on life. 

Over the past several years I have attended more funerals than I'd wish to. I have lost family members and friends. Some of our great artist have passed away and seeing their tributes makes me think. It's a funny thing death. I know not Ha Ha funny. It's just that we are all surprised when someone dies. We all want to be immortal. We want everyone to be immortal. We assume that everyone has the same life expectancy based on statics.  I hear people talk about their regrets of not telling people how they feel.  In today's climate it may feel weird to stop our busy lives to tell people how they have influenced us, why their presence in our lives has changed us, to tell them how much we love them. We often take time for granted. We let a fight, our fears, our assumptions stand in the way. When they are gone we say the most amazing things about them. Somehow all we held on to seems to fade into the shadow and only their good is mentioned and lingers in our hearts. 

With different views of how long someone should live we should take into consideration that we may not know what is true for each individual. Perhaps at whatever age they pass away or how is what they agreed to when their soul jumped into a body. Some people say we have 5 times in our lives that we can stay in the world or go. In some eastern traditions death is celebrated in ceremony as the soul passes to the new level of being. I read a quote the other day and a modified version is "He/She left his body but she was kind enough to leave his teachings behind for us in the form of _____ (music, humor, etc.).  

I am not making light of the gravity of losing someone that we love. I am not negating the 5 Stages of Grief that we all go through. We will grieve the loss of the hope, the plans, the future we wanted to have with our loved ones. We can ease this by making sure that we don't leave things unsaid. 

I am challenging you to pick 4 people this month to tell them how you feel about them. Send them a card via snail mail. Send them a email. Send them the truth from your heart. A further challenge is to continue this for the rest of the year. Leave people better than you found them. Know with certainty that you have told them what is on your heart. Start giving living eulogies to those you love. Start today.