It’s Fall… leaves are turning beautiful shades from yellow to red. Time to be outdoors in the fresh air while we still can without bundling up in 16 layers. As those leaves are dying, we should, as always, be full-on LIVING!
I get a little frantic this time of year to spend as much time as I can outdoors.
So I’m just going to recommend a few death-related resources for you. Just because I’m always scouring the internet for this stuff doesn’t mean everyone is, and maybe you’d like to explore some of these, too.
One of my favorites for a while now is End-of-Life University podcast. It’s hosted by Dr. Karen Wyatt, a hospice physician. She interviews people involved in all manner of end-of-life issues: home funerals, green burials, hospice, advanced care directives, hospice, grief, funerals. Always informative.
Another organization (which also has a podcast) is Reimagine, based in California. Swiped directly from their website, they are: “a nonprofit organization that draws on the arts, design, medicine, and spirituality to transform taboo cultural attitudes around death and grief, and to address the inequities surrounding how we live and die.” They’re adding more and more content, webinars, and events all the time. Always thought-provoking.
Related to Reimagine is Death Over Dinner. Started by Michael Hebb, they’re (like me!) committed to making death talk more normal.
I’ll never miss an opportunity to spread the word about Death Cafe, which I’ve done numerous times here. Informal, no-agenda death talk among regular people… all walks of life… just a place to talk without someone trying to shut the conversation down because it’s morbid/uncomfortable/awkward/etc ad infinitum!! If there isn’t one listed near you on the main website, try Meetup.com, as many are just local groups meeting without registering on the global site. (Plus Meetup is THE PLACE for finding any group of people doing activities you might be interested in, from hiking to practicing your French to writing your novel to wine tasting.)
I’ve recommended A Good Goodbye with Gail Rubin many times, as well. She’s the Doyenne of Death and boy, she covers the death field like there’s no tomorrow.
Want to know more about green burial (eco-friendly, all natural) visit the Green Burial Council. Get buried in a shroud, dig the grave yourself by hand, or have your ashes scattered in a field of wild flowers, GPS coordinates as your marker.
Home funerals –– the world needs to know! You don’t need a funeral director to take care of your dead. Find out all about it at the National Home Funeral Alliance.
And saving the quirkiest for last, Caitlin Doughty of The Order of the Good Death and Ask A Mortician, never fails to entertain and educate.
There’s really so much out these days about funerals, fun or not. We’re a bit partial to the fun side, but whatever floats your boat. Let’s just keep talking and letting death be the natural part of Life that it is.