EOLPodcast

Ep. 446 “The Last Ecstatic Days:” How to Die Without Fear with Aditi Sethi-Brown MD

Learn about THE LAST ECSTATIC DAYS, a film about a young man with brain cancer in search of community, and the hospice doctor who gives up everything to honor his dying wish.

My guest Dr. Aditi Sethi-Brown is a hospice and palliative care physician, end-of-life doula, and musician. She is the founder and executive director of the Center for Conscious Living and Dying and an emerging and important voice for shifting our cultures understanding and approach to dying, death, and bereavement care. She discusses the documentary film The Last Ecstatic Days, which features her work with a very special patient at the end of his life. Learn more at the following websites:

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • Ethan Sisser’s journey and how Aditi came to work with him
  • What inspired the making of The Last Ecstatic Days
  • How Ethan served as a teacher for others during his life and in his dying process
  • How Ethan called together a community of people willing to help care for him as he was dying
  • The power of social media that Ethan harnessed throughout his journey after his diagnosis
  • How Aditi was inspired to start the Center for Conscious Living and Dying after caring for Ethan
  • The upcoming screenings for the film and how to register

Links mentioned in this episode:

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 donor Amy Morgan. Also thank you to Dawn Briskey for joining the $10 for 10 Years Campaign! Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.

EOLPodcast, Grief, Spirituality

Ep. 298 Loss Without Sadness: Another View of Grief with Jennifer Mathews

Learn how for some of us it’s possible to experience grief without being sad and why that’s okay.

My guest Jennifer Mathews is a founding member of the Ashland Death Cafe and the Living/Dying Alliance of Southern Oregon. She is on a mission to shift cultural messages that hold us back from joy and to help us rethink grief and how we respond to death. She shares with us why we need to prepare for loss by developing tools that allow us to cope better. Based on her popular TEDxTalk “Death is Inevitable – Grief is Not” she also proposes the controversial idea that grief doesn’t have to be sad and it’s okay for each of us to have our own unique experience after the death of someone close to us. Learn more about her work at her website:

www.JenniferMathews.com

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • What motivated Jennifer to rethink grief in her own life
  • How the language of grief can impact our expectations and experiences of grief
  • How some of our current models of grief may actually shame people who grieve differently for not being “sad enough”
  • There are many ways to respond to death and grief is just one of them
  • Adjusting to the loss of a loved one’s physical presence is not the same as grief
  • Why love does not always equal grief
  • Tools we can develop before a loss occurs to help us when we do encounter loss

Links mentioned in this episode:

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 supporter Judith Hillyard! Your contributions make all the difference!