WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES SEPTEMBER 28, 2017 29
Finest Quality Monuments Hess-Miller Funeral Home
Serving All Cemeteries In The Tri-State Area
EXPERT CEMETERY LETTERING WITHOUT
REMOVING THE MONUMENT OR
DISTRUBING THE GRAVE
No Obligation - Free Estimates
40 Years of Experience
Jim Stagnitta
com
We really do care
Families have been
relying on us
for the last
40 year
Papavero Funeral Home
Family Owned & Operated for Five Generations
A symbol of hope.
A symbol of help.
Michaels Funeral Home, Inc.
79-22 Metropolitan Avenue
Middle Village, NY 11379
(718)894-5500
Visit us at Michaelsfuneralhome.com
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ANTHONY J. MARTINO, Lic. Mgr.
DAVID L. MARTINO, Director
Owned By Martino F.H., Inc. Since 1982
1-718-821-6660 or 1-800-479-6419
Serving Ridgewood, Maspeth,
Middle Village & Glendale
64-19 Metropolitan Ave., Middle Village, N.Y.
www.hessmillerfuneralhome.com
Lasting impressions
are our first priority.
A funeral service represents a family’s
final farewell to their loved one. Knowing this,
we go beyond what is expected to ensure
the ceremony is beautiful and memorable...
a truly fitting tribute to that special life.
We invite you to visit us to meet our staff
and tour our facility. We think you’ll be
pleased to find that making lasting impressions
is our first priority.
MORTON FUNERAL HOME /
RIDGEWOOD CHAPELS
Continuing a proud tradition of dignified, personal service.
Create a personal journal to help ease the pain
Creating a journal helps to ease
grief because it provides a safe
place where you are free to
express your deepest thoughts and
feelings about your life loss.
At this unhappy time, it is normal
for grieving people to feel helpless and
out of control.
According to Linda Cherek, a member
of the National Catholic Ministry
to the Bereaved’s Board of Trustees,
telling the story of your relationship
with the lost loved one in a journal will
help to calm these emotions.
Through writing, we can express
our ideas and feelings about the death,
and look inward to identify and consider
our strengths, areas for growth
and coping mechanisms.
Cherek off ers some thoughts on
getting started on using journaling
as a part of the grieving process:
Find writing materials that appeal
to you -- a bound book, a spiral notebook,
or loose sheets.
Create a special place to write.
Make it comfortable and inviting.
Set aside time to write. Julia Cameron
in The Artist’s Way suggests
getting up a half hour earlier each
day (while your brain is still free of
the cares of the day ahead) and write
three pages -- whatever comes into
your head.
Don’t worry about punctuation,
spelling or grammar. If you can’t think
of anything to write, just write, “I can’t
think of anything to write” over and
over. Oft en, your innermost feelings
will emerge. Your journal listens
without judgment.
Consider some questions to focus
your writing. Are there unresolved
problems or questions about your relationship
with the loved one who died?
What has the experience of their death
been like for you? What am I going to
do without their physical presence?
What do I want to remember? What
have I learned about myself?
Consider writing a letter to your
loved one -- what it has been like since
their death, or what you want your
life to be like in the years ahead.
Cherek adds that writing out
our losses is a method of therapy:
“The word therapy comes from the
Greek word therapei which means
the kind of attention one gives the
sacred.
The way our life was connected
with that of our loved one is a sacred
story of the unique journey
we walked. Keeping a journal is one
valuable way to honor that journey.”
Courtesy of NYS Funeral
Directors Association