Last year my husband’s four thousand dollar piano keyboard was stolen from our car. The entire crime was captured on our apartment building’s surveillance camera. There it was, 12:03 pm and someone managed to effortlessly steal a 5 foot long keyboard out of our car right in front of our apartment building. We were shocked, angry, and then sad. My husband loved that keyboard. He worked really hard while in college to save up the money to buy it and now it was gone. The weeks that followed were full of many recounts of what occurred. We talked about what happened with each other, shared it with friends and we thought about it when we were quiet.
If you have ever had anything stolen you know that it sucks! You feel all sorts of feelings. Often there are intense feelings of anger and sadness. Today I came accross the video footage of the keyboard being stolen and it got me thinking about how remarkable it is that we form attachment to things. How we can unconditionally love an inanimate object. We work hard to get these “things” and when the love is really intense we can resort to all sorts of behaviors. We can neglect relationships with people so that we can reserve space in our hearts for “things”. Other times the “thing” holds sentimental value and we are reluctant to part with it even when our life journey no longer allows for its presence.
I figured I would share some ways you can express your grief if you have gone through a similar experience or you have voluntary given away something you love.
5 Ways to Mourn When Something You Love is Stolen
1. Have a full on conniption (with runny snot, tears that flow into mouth, flailing arms and stomping of the feet).
2. Sing a song in memory of the object that was stolen that expresses why you fell in love with it and why you are going to miss it now that it’s gone.
3. Make a T-shirt with a picture of the object that was stolen on the front with words that read “In memory of ….”
4. Open up a window in your home, stick your head out and scream “Why?”
5. Post an obscure facebook status about your past facebook statuses about how awesome the stolen object was, Tweet about the facebook obscure status you just posted and then instagram a picture of yourself posting the obscure facebook status.
Then I realized that there is a better way….
Top 5 Ways to Mourn When Something You Love is Stolen
1. Don’t stay angry and sad.
2. Take inventory of all the wonderful people, positive experiences in your life and celebrate.
3. Be grateful
4. Be generous
5. Accept help when you know you need it.
