Researchers in the field of grief and mourning have learned that memorials play a very important role in starting the grief process and facilitating continued healing. That’s why we have funerals and memorial services. That’s why we have gravestones. That’s why the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Wall is so sacred and meaningful to all who visit it. These things are tangible experiences and symbols of our grief. We humans need them.

How can you memorialize the grief that’s attached to your trauma. What can you do or construct that will provide a touchstone for your pain, something that will symbolize your loss? We’re not talking about erecting a shrine in your dining room or anything – or maybe we are. This needs to be a personal gesture that you and God decide upon. It could be as subtle as a smooth stone from Afghanistan in your pocket, a poem that you write and put on the wall, or as obvious as the Taj Mahal. You and God decide.