Over the last two months I’ve been a part of co-facilitating many different events around dying, grief, and challenging a culture that marginalizes natural dying while normalizing violent death.
These events have taken different shapes—a retreat, workshops, a course, and conversation circles. We’ve talked philosophically about death, read poetry and completed paperwork, and very practically, built a casket as a community.
As a former teacher, I found myself over-preparing for these events, gathering oodles of resources and information to share. But over and over, I have been reminded that what is truly needed are safe spaces for inquiry and for telling our stories. True learning most often comes through listening to others, voicing questions, and exploring our own and our shared answers.
I am in awe of, and inspired by, the people I have met—their curiosity, vulnerability, and genuine desire to enter into their own lives more deeply and to discover how we can better accompany one another through aging, illness, dying and grief.
By stepping into these spaces, we can bridge the gap between the culture we currently inhabit and the one we wish to invoke. We can build resources, connection, and resilience to better accompany each other through the journey of life-- a journey that includes and embraces death. Gratitude.
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