Signs have stopped

[sg]

Have been a caretaker for 9 years to her.....She passed last year and it's been extremely difficult to go on...I received signs from her on occasion for about six months after her passing and that helped a little.....But since then she has not been around and I don't understand why it has stopped...It was the only thing that kept me going....Nothing left now....Wish there was a quick, painless and guaranteed way to go.   

[MartyT]

My dear, I am so sorry for your loss. After nine years of being a devoted caregiver, I can only imagine the changes and adjustments you are facing, and how different your life must seem to you now.

You say that for the first six months or so you received signs from your loved one after her passing, but now that seems to have stopped. In a beautiful book based on his extensive work with the bereaved, Dr. Lou LaGrand encourages us to specifically ask or pray for such signs, which he refers to as "extraordinary encounters." He writes:

I tell every client who comes to me that there is nothing wrong with asking or praying for a sign that your loved one is okay.  You will receive a sign when you need it most.  Be patient.  Persist.  Be specific.  Keep petitioning.  Stay alert and increase your awareness of the coincidences, feelings, unusual happenings, intuitions, and good things that occur during your day.  Give thanks when what you have prayed for arrives.  Persistent prayer cannot be denied.  In particular, ask your Higher Power to allow you to have a visitation dream.  Many spiritual counselors believe that dreams are the easiest way for spirits to communicate with survivors.

You might also combine your prayers with meditation.  If prayer is talking to the Intelligence, meditation is listening to that Intelligence.  Meditation – opening your mind and heart to the messages of the universe around you – will put you in an ideal state of consciousness to receive an Extraordinary Encounter . . . if something happens to you during your prayer or meditation session, and you are not sure how to assess it, ask yourself four questions:

•    Is this the kind of thing my loved one would do?
•    What is my intuitive feeling about the event?  (Notice what comes into your awareness – what thoughts, physical feelings, emotions.)
•    Has this event brought the feelings that love has been given and received?
•    Most important of all, did the experience bring peace?

If the answer to the last question is yes, you should feel confident that you’re being led by a power greater than yourself, regardless of what name you attach to it.  I firmly believe that peace and a sense of belonging or connectedness go hand-in-hand, and that the road to true healing lies in following that peace.

[Source: Love Lives On: Learning from the Extraordinary Encounters of the Bereaved, © 2006 by Louis LaGrand, Ph.D., Berkley Books, New York, pp. 119-121]

I don't know what sort of signs you received from your departed loved one, but I want to point you to some resources that you may find helpful. Be sure to follow some of the links embedded in the articles, as well as those you'll see listed as related:

After Death Communication, Continued

After Death Communication

After Death Communication: A List of Resources

[sg]

Thank you for your response...I've received at least 15 different signs during that six month period after she passed and they all occurred at a time when I wasn't looking for it...I pray for her every day...I've asked her every day for the past few months for a sign;  I've tried meditating;  but nothing happens....I'm losing hope.

[kayc]

I am so sorry for your loss and for how you're feeling about it.  I lost my husband 10 1/2 years ago and although he's always in my mind and on my heart, I don't get much in the way of "signs", and don't really expect to, but I do know we'll be together again someday when my life is complete here.  Is this your mom you're talking about?  My mom passed 1 1/2 years ago but my dad's been gone 34 years.  I hope you'll do some reading in this section so you'll know you are not alone.

[katrina407]

Hello, just want to tell you sorry for your loss! I also want to add my health is not doing very good latelly, even though it has been my fourth year of my loss, I am crying a lot, upset, you get the idea.where I live it seems all my  friends son,t really help, selfish even. Oh my I am on a writing project as you know cleaning, I want mostly to finish what my Mother started, as of now reading a medical book, by a PhD , anyway God bless, as I know what you are going through.PS one question if anyone can answer, since being alone in the World now that she is passed, why Strange people I do not know have hurt me, pick on my? Well that's it for now.

[Mom's angel]

I believe in life after death.

When I don't receive signs I think that lots of energy would be needed by them to show us a sign, so they keep collecting the energy in order to give us a sign when needed the most, so maybe they are collecting it now so as to give a sign at the right moment, may be they know that at some  point in  near future we will be needing it more. 

I don't know if you get this ( my thought are little childish though?). But yeah, this is what I think.

[Thwrangler]

I wish I could have a sign or dream of my mom. She's been gone now for 3 1/2 months and I've never gotten a sign from her. I just wanted to know if she's ok and can see me. 

I miss her so much and cry all the time. 

Life is not the same and I don't think it ever will be. 

[kayc]

Today is my mom's birthday.  I miss her...

[Mom's angel]

Kayc, I feel for you. Oh god, I don't know what I will be doing on that day. 

Are you planning to celebrate it or give her some kind of tribute?