As I sit outside on this warm day, I reflect back on the summers of my past. The memories of these summers are wonderful. My family gathered together for picnics in the back yard. Whether it was at our house or at one of my aunt’s, my mother was the life of the party. Fourth of July was always special because we’d go to the beach and watch the fireworks. After my father died, it was hard for my mother, but we still got together with her family.
As an adult, I took my children to visit my mother. My mother was now old, and most of her family had died, but we still would have a picnic and then go to the beach and watch the fireworks. To this day my children treasure the summers spent with my mother. It is so important after your loved ones have died to continue to make the memories for those who are still alive. These memories are a part of us throughout our lives and even after we die.
Dr. Ajmal Zemmar, a neurosurgeon at the University of Louisville, organized a study on an 87-year-old man who had seizures. The study’s purpose was to record the brain’s activity during death. “Just before and after the heart stopped working, we saw changes in a specific band of neural oscillations, so-called gamma oscillations, but also in others such as delta, theta, alpha, and beta oscillations. Brain oscillations, also known as ‘brain waves’, are patterns of rhythmic brain activity. Through generating oscillations involved in memory retrieval, the brain may be playing a last recall of important life events just before we die, similar to the ones reported in near-death experiences,” Dr. Zemmar said. “Something we may learn from this research is: although our loved ones have their eyes closed and are ready to leave us to rest, their brains may be replaying some of the nicest moments they experienced in their lives.”
I can take this even further because when a spirit communicates with me, he or she shows me the cherished moments in their lives. Yes, at the time of death but even long after the brain dies. The spirit part of the mind lives on in these very important moments.
Go today and make the memories that will become part of your being, long after death, and that will live inside the hearts of the living.