A Monumental Muse - Find yourself in an oasis of peace, tranquillity and serenity. There is no sadness here only beauty and nature.

Feature Article Design For Wellbeing – Can Our Physical Environment Really Make Us Feel Better?

February 6, 2021 Monumental Muse

Thank you to Sarah Jones of Full Circle Funerals, our Guest Writer for this most interesting and informative post. People often refer to locations or spaces as their “happy place”. Places can hold special memories and certain surroundings can make us feel good, even if we’re not entirely sure why. In fact, there is a lot more to the connection between physical environment and wellbeing than you might expect. Our physical environment has a significant impact on our mood. It is increasingly accepted that wellbeing can be improved by incorporating nature in our direct environment where possible. Where it was…

Celebrating A Life Full Circle – Funerals Your Way

February 2, 2021 Monumental Muse

A few years ago, at a business networking meeting, I met David Billington from Full Circle Funerals who’s founder, Sarah Jones was offering a refreshingly different, more holistic approach to Funeral Directing. I’ve been watching how Full Circle have developed in the interim years and the direction they have taken and also during that time recommended friends who have used their services and can’t speak too highly about Sarah and her team. It is an absolute pleasure therefore to welcome Sarah as a future guest writer for A Monumental Muse. First, we thought that we’d share a little insight into…

Celebrating A Life “Here Comes The Sun” – Celebrating The Life of Ken Gallimore.

January 23, 2021 Monumental Muse

The sun was certainly shining on Karen and Ken Gallimore when they first met at an 18th birthday party on 5th July 1980 at the Ainsty Hotel in York. There was an instant rapport between them and when Ken offered Karen a lift home there started a friendship which quickly became a lifelong love story. Just over a year later, in August 81, the couple married. Over the following years, they were blessed with 7 beautiful children but, sadly, tragedy struck when their son, Leigh was diagnosed with a brain tumour and passed away at only 4 years old. The…

Feature Article Saying Goodbye, One Step At A Time – TOLAD

August 26, 2020 Monumental Muse

Strolling Out and Scattering Ashes The TOLAD Way When a loved one dies there can be a longing for “one last…..” Often this can be one last walk with them or visit to a favourite beauty or picnic spot. Some families choose to do this in order to scatter ashes and we are finding that an increasing number of families are preferring to scatter ashes in a more ecologically friendly way than they perhaps would have done in the past. Most people, unless they have done it before, expect when they scatter ashes that the ash will be fine, like…

Guest Writer Grief – How To Support Your Body Whilst Grieving

August 23, 2020 Monumental Muse

GRIEF: ‘GO WITH THE FLOW WHILE MAKING SURE YOU SUPPORT YOUR BODY AS BEST YOU CAN’ Grief is hard to control, distressing and, at times, utterly overwhelming and painful. And the idea that there is a road map may be soothing and give us something to hang onto. However, it is an illusion. Utter confusion The five stages of grief by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross are often used to try and explain the grieving process. However, they were “never meant to help tuck messy emotions into neat packages” as she herself wrote in her last book ‘On Grief and Grieving’. All her…

Feature Article More Than A Mason

August 17, 2020 Monumental Muse

Let’s Talk There’s no denying that this year and the last few months, especially, has been particularly hard for many of us. We were thrust into a world which seemed almost surreal as we were told to “stay safe, stay at home” and the weekly norm was no longer a visit to Church, drink down the pub or day out to some beauty spot with the kids but Thursday evenings stood outside our house clapping for keyworkers. Those who lost loved ones during this period were especially affected with the introduction of very much reduced numbers of mourners permissible at…

Feature Article Are You Feeling The Need To Let Off Steam?

July 25, 2020 Monumental Muse

Do you feel the need to let off steam? One of our regular feature writers, Judith Morris, shares why this may not be such a bad thing to do. Why venting is good for you. The last 4 months have been hard for everyone, with so many different pressures on us all, that we have never before experienced and sometimes we just need to let that out. The pressures of managing money, family, work deadlines and trying to fit in a personal life are bad enough in normal times but wow, add in Covid and the pressure gauge nearly bursts….

Feature Article Introducing York Cemetery Genealogists: The Grave Detectives!

July 15, 2020 Monumental Muse

Have you ever wondered where your great-grandparents were laid to rest? Do you want to investigate that story handed down through the generations of your family about visiting a grave near a tree or next to a wall, maybe even finding that exact spot yourself? Are you researching your family history? People with these kinds of questions and more are frequent visitors to the Genealogy Office at York Cemetery. Usually they leave with at least some of the answers, sometimes with more questions and often with much more information than they asked for! The office is located at the…

Guest Writer It’s OK Not To Be OK – Isn’t It? Sabine Horner Answers This Question For Us

June 21, 2020 Monumental Muse

We’re delighted to have an insight into this question from one of our regular guest writers Nutritional Therapist and Kundalini Yoga Instructor, Sabine Horner. Sabine is based in York. IT’S OK TO NOT BE OK – UP TO A CERTAIN POINT I cannot remember how many times I have come across this phrase since I lost my husband in August 2017. Being a member of a group of young widows and widowers, I noticed that it was used a lot when people were too exhausted or overwhelmed by grief to be able to look after themselves properly. In a way…

Guest Writer Pandemic Grief – Advice from Guest Writer Geraldine Mace

May 25, 2020 Monumental Muse

Why a Post About Pandemic Grief? This post has been written by Geraldine as a result of a special request from one of our readers, who is finding difficulty coping with the pandemic situation and lockdown. Thank you to Geraldine for responding so quickly to our request. Pandemic Grief Someone mentioned to me last week that they were feeling angry that their world, as you may imagine, has changed totally. They compared going through lockdown to going through the different stages of grief. I felt this was a very appropriate topic for this blog and here are my thoughts. As…