Month: August 2022

EOLPodcast

Ep. 366 The Death Conversation Game and Talking About Death with Angela Fama

kwyattmd

Learn about a creative game to help foster conversations about death.

My guest Angela Fama is an artist and photographer who lives in Vancouver Canada and is also a recently trained death doula. She created the Death Conversation Game and facilitates online seasonal Let’s Talk About Death conversations. She will share how she became interested in exploring death as a subject and why she created the game. We will also play a few rounds of the game so you can see how it works! Learn more at her websites:

www.angelafama.com

www.deathconversationgame.com

Get the game here

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • Angela’s What is Love project
  • How focusing on love led her eventually to learn about death
  • Why Angela needed to talk about death after a serious accident
  • What inspired the Death Conversation Game
  • How playing a game helps facilitate conversations about death
  • Why it’s important for people to talk about death
  • How to create a safe, trauma-informed space to discuss death
  • We play the game to demonstrate how it works
  • Who might benefit from using the game in their work
  • How Angela’s time in Zimbabwe influenced her decision to become a death doula
  • Angela’s request for a collaborator to extend the reach of the game

Do you realize that everyone you know someday will die?“

The Flaming Lips from Do You Realize

Links mentioned in this episode:

  • Song: Do You Realize by The Flaming Lips
  • Get in touch with Angela: info@deathconversationgame.com

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If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu, especially my newest patron Martha Lundgren, and to those who have bought me a coffee and made a donation through Paypal! Your contributions make all the difference.

EOLPodcast

Ep. 365 How to Live a Death-Aware Life with Karen Wyatt MD (ENCORE)

kwyattmd

Learn the benefits of having a personal practice to increase our death-awareness.

In this encore solo episode I’ll be sharing with you research that shows that the human brain has a primal mechanism to protect us from thinking about and acknowledging our own personal death. Even those of us who study death and teach others how to prepare for the end of life can be in denial about our own mortality. However, living with “death awareness” is the best way to grow spiritually and make the most of every moment of life. My book The Tao of Death (with a companion journal) can be used for daily contemplation and help you become more death aware in your own life. Let’s talk about why we need to maintain our death-awareness and how to do it!

www.eoluniversity.com/taoofdeath

Get the book here

Download journal

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • A study that shows the defenses against death-awareness that exist in the primitive human brain
  • Why personal death-awareness must be intentionally cultivated
  • How death-awareness can expand and transform our lives
  • Why daily death contemplation is essential to our growth
    • Think about the fleeting nature of life
    • Acknowledge fears of death and dying
    • Recognize barriers to awareness
  • Benefits of increased death-awareness:
    • Enjoy the present moment
    • Find comfort in stillness
    • Experience authentic gratitude for life
    • Experience awe
    • Become less attached to material things
    • Be more inclusive and less exclusive
    • See everything as sacred

Links mentioned in this episode:

Buy me a coffee

Donate on Paypal

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu and to those who have bought me a coffee (thank you Elisa Weger!) and made a donation through Paypal! Your contributions make all the difference.

EOLPodcast

Ep. 364 What to Do When I’m Gone: Mothers and Daughters on Loss and Grief with Hallie Bateman, Suzy Hopkins, and Gia Snyder

kwyattmd

Learn about a charming book of wisdom shared by a mother to her daughter and how it touches on the universal experience of loss and grief.

In this episode I’m welcoming my daughter Gia Snyder as my co-host. Gia is a spiritual teacher and musician, who is currently in nursing school to become an RN. Our special guests are also a mother and daughter pair: Suzy Hopkins and Hallie Bateman. Suzy is a retired journalist who worked for four Northern California newspapers and founded a community magazine in the Sierra Foothills. Hallie is a writer and illustrator based in Los Angeles whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Buzzfeed and many others. Together Suzy and Hallie created the book: What to Do When I’m Gone: A Mother’s Wisdom to Her Daughter. The four of us will discuss the book, our mother-daughter relationships, and how we are all dealing with loss and grief as we navigate life and its changes.

Learn more about Gia’s work at: www.divinelygia.com

Learn more about Hallie’s work at: www.halliebateman.com

Get the book here

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • Why Suzy and Hallie decided to write this book
  • The anxiety mothers feel over the prospect of leaving children behind when they die
  • Anticipatory grief experienced by daughters as their mothers age
  • The complicated nature of the mother-daughter relationship
  • The importance of wisdom passed on by mothers to their daughters
  • How we grieve the loss of our mothers differently than others
  • Afterlife communication with our mothers
  • How sharing food together helps us heal
  • Why recipes are a valuable part of the legacy we leave for family members

Links mentioned in this episode:

Buy me a coffee

Donate on Paypal

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu and to those who have bought me a coffee and made a donation through Paypal! Your contributions make all the difference.

EOLPodcast

Ep. 363 Support for Hospice Nurses with Shelley Henry RN

kwyattmd

Learn how this hospice nurse is supporting other nurses by providing employment that allows them to improve their work-life balance.

My guest Shelley Henry has been a registered nurse for over 30 years, with 20 of those years served in hospice. She is the creator of the popular Instagram channel For Hospice Nurses where she shares quick video tips from her many years of experience to make work a little easier for her colleagues. Shelley is also the founder of the Amity Group, which she started with the primary goal of bringing experienced hospice nurses back to the field while maintaining a fulfilling personal life. She discusses how her innovative company helps hospice nurses create the work life they desire while filling in the gaps for hospice companies. Learn more at her website:

www.amitystaffing.com

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • Why Shelley was drawn to work in hospice
  • The rewards and challenges of being a hospice nurse
  • Why some hospice nurses leave the field
  • Shelley’s top tips for hospice nurses
  • The issues that hospice nurses are most concerned about now
  • How redundant documentation is causing stress and wasting precious time for hospice nurses
  • Why Shelley created Amity Staffing
  • How this model benefits nurses who still want to work in hospice but need more control over their schedule
  • How hospices are benefitting from having well-trained contract nurses available to fill in the gaps

Links mentioned in this episode:

Buy me a coffee

Donate on Paypal

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu and to those who have bought me a coffee and made a donation through Paypal! Your contributions make all the difference.

EOLPodcast

Ep. 362 The Grief Cruises™: Travel to Heal Grief and Honor Loved Ones with Linda Findlay

kwyattmd

Learn about an innovative cruise that focuses on grief support and memorialization of loved ones.

My guest Linda Findlay is an Aftercare Coordinator for funeral homes and a hospice bereavement support group facilitator. She is also the founder of The Grief Cruises™ and has escorted four groups on special cruises for the purpose of healing grief and honoring loved ones. She discusses her inspiration for this work and what to expect on a “grief cruise.” Learn more about her work at her websites:

www.thegriefcruises.com

www.mourningdiscoveries.com

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • Linda’s own grief journey that inspired her current work
  • What is a grief cruise and who is it for
  • The benefits of getting away from ordinary life when dealing with grief
  • Activities included on the cruises: workshops, memory wall, candlelit memorial walk, night of remembrance
  • These experiences help people go home with a coping “toolbox”
  • How families can benefit from taking a grief cruise together
  • How burial at sea for cremated remains is possible during a cruise
  • Feedback from attendees on past cruises
  • How participants learn that grief and joy can coexist
  • How COVID impacted Linda’s work as a bereavement coordinator

Links mentioned in this episode:

Buy me a coffee

Donate on Paypal

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu, especially my newest patron Sharon, and to those who have bought me a coffee and made a donation through Paypal! Your contributions make all the difference.