We all know people who have passed.
They made their mark on our hearts and now they are gone.
Yet their presence in our lives leaves an imprint.
We remember them for how they made us feel and what they did.
And the fact that the are gone leaves a hole in our lives.
Those wonderful times we spend together are now in the past.
We won’t be able to create new memories with them.
And that makes us sad.
So the memories are bittersweet.
There is the sweetness of having had those wonderful experiences.
And then there is the bitterness that they are all now in the past.
How sweet or how bitter we feel is up to us.
Do we focus on our gratitude on having had that person in our life?
Or do we focus on the loss?
We get sad thinking that the person is gone from our life.
Yet that is not really true.
For as long as we remember them, as long as we continue to hold them in our heart, they still live.
They live through us.
Through the stories we tell of them.
And they live through the actions we take that continue to be inspired by them.
As long as we live and we remember them, they are still very much alive.
Our loved ones may not be physically present, yet their presence is still felt in our life.
If we take the time to truly honor them not just by recalling our memories with them but by allowing them to continue to affect our actions today, then it is as if they are still with us.
Of course we have to grieve the loss.
Yes, we will feel sad that they are no longer physically with us.
And it is important to allow those feelings to come and come through us.
Our bodies and our souls need to express those feelings.
Yet by also allowing them to still be a light in our lives, we keep them alive in a very special way.
So when we are being present to the loss we feel of the people who are no longer with us, let us also feel the love we still have for them.
And with that love we can continue to move forward and let our own light shine.
Is there someone in your life that you can keep alive by honoring their impact on your life?
~ Sam Liebowitz, The Conscious Consultant
