The reality is that losing a loved one represents one of the most distressing, and yet most commonplace, of all experiences in the course of a lifetime. Grief follows the death of a loved one. Grieving is a process.

Grieving can be a healthy process, one through which a survivor’s emotions temper, according to the world-renowned Mayo Clinic. By going through a healthy grieving process, a person who has lost a loved one ultimately can accept the passing of a friend or family member and is able to move forward with life.

Healthy grieving can involve more than just thinking about your loss. Indeed, healthy grieving can involve more than talking about the loss of your loved one, including with a counselor or grief specialist.

There are activities that you can embark upon that can assist you in working through the grief you experience after the passing of a family member or friend. None of these activities are complicated or expensive to undertake in the wake of losing a loved one.

Write a Letter to Your Deceased Loved One

A very easy, and effective, activity you can embark upon as part of your grieving process is writing a letter to your deceased family member or friend. Indeed, you may ultimately find that you want to write more than one letter to your deceased loved one.

You need not hold anything back in your letter to your loved one. In fact, you should be brutally honest in preparing this letter to your family member or friend who has passed on.

If you are angry with that person, tell him or her so in your letter. Being angry at a loved one who has died actually is a common emotional response. In fact, when grieving, there is no such thing as a standard emotional response.

Through the letter writing process, you will be able to better identify your emotions. By putting how you feel down on paper, by “telling” your deceased loved one how you really feel about the whole state of affairs, you likely will find that you take a significant burden off your shoulders. Most people report that they really do start to feel better once they start the process of writing a letter, or letters, to a lost loved one.

Spend Time With a Deceased Loved One’s Belonging

Experts in the field of grief recovery suggest that a person who has lost a family member or friend should spend time with that individual’s possessions or belongings. This does not mean merely take the initiative to pack up a deceased person’s property. In fact, the recommendation to spend time with a deceased person’s property virtually the exact opposite.

The time will come when property owned by a person who has died needs to be packed, stored, or disposed of in some manner. However, that very rarely must be done in the immediate aftermath of a person’s passing.

Spending time with a deceased loved one’s property can mean anything from going through that individual’s clothing to reading books that he or she may have had on the shelves of his or her home. It certainly can mean going through photos and memorabilia that a deceased loved one may have accumulated during his or her life.

Spending time allows us to feel connected with a deceased person. The process should remind you of happy memories of the lost loved one.

In the same way that you do not have to hustle to organized and disposed of a loved one’s property after death, you do not need to rush to spend time with his or her property. You don’t want to overwhelm yourself by diving into this activity too soon after death unless you sincerely feel motivated to do so. You must always keep in mind that when it comes to grieving, there is no set schedule. The long-used phrase “all in good time” is always applicable when it comes to a healthy grieving process.

Honor Your Lost Loved One

Oftentimes, when a person dies, the funeral notice states that a donation can be made to some worthwhile organization in that person’s honor. Of course, this is an important way of honoring a deceased loved one.

Another avenue you can take to honor a deceased loved one is to do something in his or her behalf. For example, if a lost loved one volunteered for a particular organization during his or her lifetime, you could take up the effort in his or her memory. You do not need to make a lifetime commitment to such an activity. However, after you start volunteering for a deceased person’s favorite organization, you may find that you enjoy the effort. You may feel somehow uniquely connected to your beloved deceased family member or friend through this process.

Surround Yourself With Life

Nothing can take the place of a person you care about who has passed on. With that said, in the aftermath of someone’s death, you can celebrate his or her life by surrounding yourself with life.

Surrounding yourself with life can be as simple as adding some lovely plants into your home. There simply is a special energy that exists when a residence includes thriving plants. In addition, tending to plants provides you with a positive activity in the aftermath of a loved one’s death.

Some people have even reported that adopting a pet proves useful in getting beyond grief. You should not run out and get a cat or dog without any serious thought about the responsibility that accompanies these types of companion animals. On the other hand, if you have given serious thought to adopting a pet for some time, the period when you can to terms with the grief of a lost loved one might be an ideal juncture to take that step. In the final analysis, the unconditional loved given by a companion animal is an amazing remedy when you face challenges in life, including the death of a beloved family member or friend.