This post is to celebrate our 5th annual Passed Heroes Day (PHD)! These past four years have gone by in a flash, which highlights how precious our time is and how important it is to cherish each and every moment with our present loved ones.
NLH created PHD to commemorate all of our passed loved ones each year, not just once after their passing like a traditional funeral. Our initial PHD celebration took place in 2020, during a time when we had to take a step back from our normal daily existence. This was the ideal opportunity to begin the celebration, because it offered the time and space to reflect on our lives as a whole, especially on our past and present loved ones. PHD also presented a great reason to gather with our family and friends to celebrate the memories of the people who have uplifted our lives.
Life is a gift, and its time limit gives the gift meaning. If we had an infinite amount of time to live, we would be bored and lack any motivation to do anything. Imagine how bad procrastination would be if due dates could be set hundreds of years into the future.
In addition to our own lives being gifts, we are blessed to have companions on this wonderful/crazy journey. We get to interact with all sorts of different people with unique personalities, talents, and interests. These people can make us smile, laugh, and cry tears of joy. They can also make us sad and angry, but without these negative emotions, we could not fully appreciate the positive emotions they inspire in our hearts.
This PHD, let us continue to honor those special people in our memories and appreciate all they have done to help shape us into the heroes we are now.
As a reminder, here are some suggestions for ways to celebrate:
Schedule a time for family/friends to get together in person or virtually via video chat.
Encourage everyone who will be attending to create a list of all of their passed loved ones that they would like to commemorate (pets included!).
Gather videos and pictures of your passed loved ones. Perhaps you could create a compilation video or slideshow.
Cook food, listen to music, make drinks, play games, etc. that remind you of your passed loved ones so that everyone can share in the experience. See if you can engage all of the 5 senses (Sight, Sound, Touch, Taste, and Smell).
Go around the room and have everyone discuss the dearly departed. Topics may include favorite memories and the positive impact they had.
Discuss the beauty and meaning of life.
Wishing you and your past/present/future loved ones great Love, Peace, and Joy!
- Next Level Heroes
Excellent post Matthew! I find it fascinating to see how cultures embrace their history and by association, their present. Two particular cultures come to mind - American Indian and Mexican.
The American Indian culture is known to believe in a fundamental spiritual connection between past loved ones and the living. It may not be a coincidence that they also believe in a fundamental spiritual connection with the world, especially with other living things. It seems to me that this connection really grounds them in terms of knowing in the present they are not separate from All that is but a member of the world family.
Likewise, while visiting Mexico I was impressed to see how the Mexican families celebrate Mother's…