Our Weekly Tip: Remembrance Jars

Credit: Diana Digs

Our Tip of the Week:  Sometimes when we lose someone close to us, thoughts constantly swirl through our heads that remind us of our loss. Most of these thoughts are random and simple. If you’re baking a pie, you might think, “My brother used to love apple pie.” When you’re shopping at a grocery store, you might see a young woman with strawberry blonde hair and think, “My cousin used to keep her hair in pigtails like that.” These thoughts might be simple, but they have a profound impact on us over time. Sometimes we think so often about our loved ones that the little thoughts overwhelm our senses. We can’t think; we can’t sleep and we can’t express joy while our loved ones are gone.

When you put on paper the thoughts that are spinning through your head all day, you open yourself to healing. You can tap into emotions rather than pushing them to the side. That’s the goal behind remembrance jars. Put all of your thoughts and memories into these jars to make the clutter in your head into a tangible object. When you make what’s in your head a physical reality, you acknowledge your thoughts and allow yourself to move past them.

How-to Suggestion: Get a glass jar large enough to hold your writings. Make sure the jar has a thin metal lid. Cut up colorful pieces of paper or photocopies of your loved one to stick to the outside of the jar. Once you have decorated the outside of the jar, carefully cut a slit in the top of the metal lid, about two to three inches long and two centimeters wide. Buy a piece of fabric that matches the rest of the decorated jar. Place the fabric over the lid, and secure it to the side of the lid with glue, ribbon or a rubber band so it stays in place. Cut a slit in the fabric in the same spot as the slit in the metal lid so that you can push pieces of paper into the jar.

Credit: Flickr user martinak15

Once your jar is complete, write down any fleeting thoughts you might have about your loved one on a sliver of paper (about the size of a fortune in a fortune cookie). Fold the paper until it is small enough to fit through the opening in the jar, and push the slip of paper inside. Over time, your family and you might fill the jar completely with thoughts. Use these for a memorial art collage, or keep them in the jar to look back on years later.