| Hello Friend,
What if we could imagine our own eventual death as a contribution to others? What if every aspect of it could be seen as a sacred offering to those around us? How would we live our lives differently if we knew that our personal process of dying and our death could be our last great gift to those we love?
I’ve been playing with these ideas lately.
As I contemplate these questions, I notice that death has been a significant contribution to my life. In a myriad of ways. In fact, the closer and more intimately I have been to the person dying, their death process, and their after death care, the bigger the gift has been to me and others.
It’s also been my experience that the more I consider my own death, the more intentional I get about my life. To my utter delight, one of the results of that intentionality has been more aliveness.
Preparation for a good death has two components: External preparation (paperwork, assets, physical stuff) and internal preparation (attitudes, beliefs, perspectives, and trust). These ahead-of-time preparations are part of the process that gets us in right alignment with our values and our highest desires. The process itself is actually an important journey towards seeing death as a contribution to the whole.
I’m so honored to have these two workshops coming up this fall. I love teaching them and thrilled to know that they enhance not only my life but the lives of others.
- End of Life Planning & Paperwork (External Preparation): September 3 & 17 from 2-6pm. Details here.
- Walking Towards a Good Death (Internal Preparation): 4 Mondays in November, 4-6pm. Details here.
Both of these courses are happening in online formats and in the context of presence, care, and depth. Please join me if you feel drawn. I’m both confident and humbled to suggest that these courses will change your relationship with death towards something more expansive and positive.
In so much gratitude for this life, for you, and for our mutual journey in this world together,
Lee Warren
Reclaiming Wisdom
PS: I am one part of a five part teaching team that’s offering Aging Gracefully in Community. Our first go at this course in July had record-breaking attendance! It’s being offered by the Foundation for Intention Community (FIC at ic.org) and the next one starts October 26th. If you’re interested in both community and issues of aging, you may want to check this course out. I teach the last course in the series and I call it “The Art of Death & Dying in Community.”
PPS: Here are some death resources that I’ve been inspired by recently….. This week I saw the “work-in-progress” screening of the amazing film The Last Ecstatic Days which was filmed in my city, Asheville, NC, by a group of friends in my conscious dying community. This is an incredible piece of art with a very important message for humanity. Check out the trailer and follow them on Facebook. Also recently, I had a chance to spend time with Sandy LaGrega, of the Sophia Center for Life Studies, and am inspired and amazed by her journey with Natural Death Care. If you’re interested in at-home care of the our own beloved dead, the video on this page is an exquisite introduction to her work. The last resource is this Making Friends with Death project by my friend Mary Lane who recently interviewed another friend, Katherine Savage. I love these conversations and the ongoing format that provides a sacred inquiry into how to make friends with death. |
