Category Archives: Death and living while dying
Who speaks first?
If our client has the right to his or her own death upon which he or she has not focused, who should first raise the question? :- Doug.
When our death is upon us?
When our death is upon us, what shall we do? How shall we meet? Shall we be drugged, or so tired we do not meet well? Shall we be joyful, grim, with friends and lovers, alone, with book, music, stillness? … Continue reading →
Sleep through my death?
Do I really want to sleep through my death? :- Doug.
Can death enrich life?
Can death—Dad’s, Mom’s— enrich our lives —& theirs? :- Doug.
The gentle work
What is the work I will want to be doing when I am dying? I do not want desperately to be trying to cap off my chapter, nor coming up with an apt final word. I want to be giving … Continue reading →
When do we die well?
When do we die well? I’d thinking it is when we die our own death: when we die where and with whom we choose; when we are in the state of mind and heart we want. We don’t all get … Continue reading →
Invite conversations of life and.
I invite conversations of life and. :- Doug.
3 Tools to start the end of life conversation
Friends– Here is an excellent article with really good advice: http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2012/03/3-tools-start-life-conversation.html We would all do well to read it! :- Doug.
When the end of life conversation is difficult
Sometimes, the end of life conversation is difficult because we do not know what options are open to us, when we might say enough, about what subjects we might converse. :- Doug.
A pearl upon a strand
Consider what might be a God’s-eye view of our lives and our families: a pearl upon a strand. Can we see death as a chapter, not an ending? There is one life, and it lives on. :- Doug.
Your birth and death are prelude
Your birth and death are each prelude to what happens next—for your family, for our tribe, for humanity. :- Doug.
Not a beginning nor ending
For the family, birth or death of one of its members is a chapter, an event to be marked, yet not a beginning nor ending. Something is lost and something gained: through all, the whole grows. How does your family … Continue reading →
Have you had the end of life conversation?
Have you had the end of life conversation? If not, when? How will you begin? Whom do you love enough to have the conversation? Whom among your clients and patients do you love enough to help get this conversation started? … Continue reading →
Love around the death bed
Let us speak of going beyond living in a “normal” (actually subdued, greyed-over) community, where everybody is marching toward the grave with as little pain as possible. Let us speak of having the pain, having the ecstasy, having the full … Continue reading →
A memory box
A memory box can be a way to start the conversation: here are some pictures, some ribbons, some pressed flowers; here are some documents; here is what I want…. :- Doug.
If death were not for keeps
What if we did not see death as for keeps, but as a chapter, a pearl on a continuing string? The family, the tribe, the story goes forward. Someone is born, and destined to change the drama. Someone dies and … Continue reading →
A family in medical crisis
Say you have a family with a medical crisis. Consider the scenarios that could happen here. Consider more than one. There are always more than one good choice. Open some conversation, engage them in what is possible, not just now, … Continue reading →