Planning a funeral often reveals information that you may have forgotten – or that your loved ones never knew.
Looking through old documents and items, you will find unexpected details about where you lived, what you accomplished, or where you traveled. What a wonderful thing it could be if you could take the time to talk about those memories now, while you can still elaborate on those details.
Having important conversations about memorialization and final wishes can be an enjoyable experience – one that can bring you closer to your loved ones, and provides valuable information for an advance funeral plan that can bring you peace of mind, and help ensure your final wishes will be met.
Here are just a few of the ways you and your loved ones can find the process of pre-planning a positive and happy experience, instead of one to dread and avoid:
Reflect on your or your loved one’s life in a new way
Most people have activities or traits they are known for – hobbies, personality quirks, or favorite activities.
On the other hand as you thinks about how you want to be remembered, you may realize that the things you are best known for are not necessarily the things you most want to be remembered.
For example, left to themselves your loved ones might be inclined to have a service that reflects your favorite activity – fishing, or scrapbooking, for example – when you would much rather have a service that emphasizes the memorable times you’ve spent with your family members.
Advance funeral planning allows you to reflect on the personal history and memories that mean the most to you, and enables you to work with your loved ones to ensure that these most important moments will be remembered.
Learn about and share your family history
Unless family genealogy is one of your passions, you probably haven’t spent very much time thinking about or talking about your family history.
Funeral planning gives you an opportunity to remember the stories about your family, and to share those stories with your family. These may be memories about people and traditi2ons, that once you are gone, there will be no one left in your family who remembers.
Peace of mind
Advance funeral planning is beneficial, but for many people it is just “one of those things” that they continually put off – until it is too late.
It can be uncomfortable to think about end-of-life issues, and even to explain your preferences. By approaching the subject in the context of sharing stories about your life, you can make the conversation easy – and even enjoyable.
By preplanning your funeral, you are removing that burden from your loved ones, at a time that they will be under a great deal of emotional stress and dealing with their own sense of loss and grief.
Pre-planning not only gives you tremendous peace of mind, but it is one of the greatest final gifts you can give.
Source: Alyssa McNab – How Advance Funeral Planning Can Be A Joyful Experience
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