A Walk Through The Cemetery

There is an old, expressive folklore which claims that when we die our souls are carried away on the wings of a butterfly. As a definitive, last effort to keep their loved ones with them, people would rip out the wings of butterflies. - Logic being, if they coulnd't fly - they couldn't carry away souls of the deceased.

In Greek mythology it was belived that if they ripped the wings out of a butterfly then they would live forever.

I have always loved walking through the cemetery. At first, it began when my friend and I would walk through the graveyard next to her house. I suppose that we were hoping to detect a ghost or some other spooky entity lingering amongst the old, aging stones. That never happened, at best we only heard a few anonymous sounds late at night.

As I grew older, walking through the cemetery become something much different and more personal to me. It was a place of meditating in a state of total relaxation. I savor the peace and quiet. It's a calm, relaxed and serene environment. It's an escape from the living and all of the distractions and drama that subsists in personage.

If you haven't already taken the opportunity to explore the tranquillity within a cemetery, I implore you to take a moment to do just that. Nature is more alive and animate within the land of the dead. The air is weightless and placid; filled with the delicate scents of nature. The birds sing a little bit louder and their melodies carry like feathers through the wind.

At one time, I thought that cemeterys and graveyards were dreadful and frightening. A place of death and misery full of sorrowfulness and unhappiness - I was substantially wrong.

I find that spending time in the hushed, lown atmosphere within a cemetery is therapy for my soul. My mind becomes more open and optimistic to the possibilities and potential within my own life. The obscurity becomes a celebration of life and makes me more obliged and grateful for the things that I inadvertently disregard, forget and overlook.

When I go to the cemetery, I always visit my father's grave. I feel a consoling sense of connection as I remember his laugh, his smile and how well he listened to my heart in our conversations. I tell him about everything and nothing. There is no judegement - Just pure conviction and consolation for my mind, body and soul. A therapeutic antidote that comes naturally and free unlike anything that money can buy or provide. - I am at peace.

As I walk amongst the graves I am given a much higher perspective and outlook on life. I am reminded of just how irrelevant and insignificant that my stress and worries truly are. It may seem strange to spend an hour walking and lulling in a cemetery — but in truth, I think it adds balance to my life.

I wonder who most of these people were. What they did. Where they came from and how they got here. - The journey - Any time one considers the mortality of those gone before us we have to reflect on our own goals and our own journey. Our own mortality, but more importantly for me, how I am living my own life.

Somedays when I walk in the cemetery, I’m overjoyed at the beauty of this life — even as memories of the deceased linger - I always leave with a sense of peace. It’s also an exercise in perspective, I have found that my high blood pressure lowers drastically after a withdrawal from civilization.

Cemeteries can be beautiful places with statuary, foliage, trees, flowers and silence. A walk through a beautiful cemetery that has been maintained, especially during the day, can be a very calming experience. Nobody is going to call out to you, or talk to you, or get in your way. You will pretty much have the place to yourself, and can get some meditating accomplished if you of a mind to do that. You are away from the busy traffic and noise of the city. You can completely loose yourself in the silcence and solitude for a while.

A cemetery is (obviously) a place where you will see the evidence of our mortality. Row after row of headstones and other markers. You know that all these people have died. Some very young, and some very old, and all ages in-between. You, on the other hand, are alive and walking amongst them. You have a future and a purpose, and the warmth and love of friends and family, and these thoughts can be comforting.

We as humans find peace in the most unexpected of places. So go ahead and take a moment to visit a cemetery for yourself. Reflect on yourself and on your life for a little while and you might just find out something new about yourself, or you might have just found something that puts you at ease. - Your new favorite place to de-stress, decompress and find yourself again.

-There is no better place to find the real meaning of life than to be amongst those who no longer have one.

Rebecca L Ivey