4 Thoughtful Ways to Show Sympathy

Showing sympathy can come in many forms. You can be a shoulder for someone to cry on, or you can use your words to try and soothe someone’s pain. When there’s a death in the family, there are many different ways to show sympathy.

A few of the ways that you can show sympathy are:

1. Offer a Physical Presence

A physical presence is one that is the most underrated ways to show sympathy. You can choose to go to the person’s family and offer your condolences. You can offer to help pick up groceries or bring a person food – it always helps.

When a close family member was hit by a car, a friend of his decided to bring his family dinner every few weeks while he was in the hospital.

The gesture allowed his mother to have a night off from her normal routine and relax during a very difficult time in her life. You can choose to:

• Purchase groceries

• Bring the person food

• Offer transportation

• Help make sense of bills

• Run errands

Oftentimes, just being there can really help ease a person’s suffering.

2. Use Words to Soothe Pain

Words can help ease a person’s pain, and this can be a phone call, letter or a card sent in the mail. Text messages do not have the same personal touch as a letter or a card, but if the family would rather not speak to anyone while grieving, a text message or message on Facebook will suffice.

You can find a lot of inspiration for condolences messages on Pinterest.

Using your words for sympathy can be very difficult, but when you choose the right words from the heart, they can often help ease a person’s pain.

3. Send a Gift or Flowers

A go-to option for any occasion is to send a gift or flowers to a person. My friend decided to send flowers to Belgium along with a handwritten card when he lost a friend overseas. The rise of a global economy allows for competitive shipping and flower rates around the world.

We're also seeing a major shift in flower delivery. In the next decade, it’s expected that robot dog delivery, drone delivery and smart doors will all have a significant impact in the way that flowers are delivered. A consumer can walk in the door to find flowers delivered on the table with smart doors, and drone delivery will open the industry to entirely markets. The shift will also be experienced when sending gifts to people overseas.

Gifts will include a gift basket of some kind.

A gift basket may include fruits, sweets or chocolates. The gesture is often well-received, and it can provide a little nourishment during a very trying time in a person’s life. You can ask the florist which types of flowers work best for sympathy, or you can follow guides online to guide you to the perfect bouquet for the occasion.

4. A Little Giving Doesn’t Hurt

Another option which is becoming quite popular is to celebrate the person’s life through kind gestures. You can choose to plant a tree in honor of the person’s life. It's a nice way to remember someone.

You can also choose to donate money to the person’s favorite charity, or to a charity for a cause that the person was passionate about.

If you cannot find a cause to donate to, ask the family or view the person’s obituary to see if there was any mention of a cause that you can choose to donate to in remembrance of the person.