life – End of Life University

Learn how making a Vision Board that focuses on the end of life can help ease fear and negative thoughts about death and dying.

In this episode I share a tutorial on how to make a vision board for your own end of life. This is a fun project that can be done in a group.

Download the handout for this episode:

How to Create an EOL Vision Board

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

This episode is sponsored by my book What Really Matters: 7 Lessons for Living from the Stories of the Dying. This book focuses on the spiritual lessons I learned from my dying patients and how they changed my life!

Get the book here.

Get the audiobook for free by signing up for Audible!

FEATURE PRESENTATION:

Get the handout: How to Create an EOL Vision Board

This tutorial includes:

What vision boards are and how they are helpful
How visualization works to prepare us for a future activity
The negativity bias of the brain
Why positive images of the end of life are needed to overcome negativity
How beautiful pictures create calmness and relaxation by stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system
Why creating an end-of-life vision board can help ease fear of death
Step-by-step instructions for making a vision board
How to write goals for your board
Following up your vision board with specific action steps

View my Pinterest EOL Vision Board!

Tune in next Monday for another new episode! If you enjoy this content please share with others who might find it helpful and consider leaving a review on iTunes.

Until next week:

Face Your Fear BE Ready Love Your Life

End of Life, EOLPodcast

Ep. 147 Green Burial: A Will for the Woods with Amy Browne and Brian Wilson

June 18, 2018June 16, 2018 kwyattmd

Learn about a beautiful documentary film that you can include in a community workshop on home funerals and green burial.

In this episode I share a “legacy interview” with two of the directors of the documentary film “A Will for the Woods” – Amy Browne and Brian Wilson. This is one of my favorite films and I encourage you to consider bringing it to your community for a screening and discussion about home funerals and green burial.

Learn more about the film here.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

This episode is sponsored by my supporters on Patreon.com/eolu. Thank you today to Holly Randall for increasing your monthly pledge! I appreciate all of the donors who have been chipping in over the past year-and-a-half to keep this podcast on the air! You can join the team for as little as $1 per month at Patreon.com/eolu.

FEATURE PRESENTATION:

Filmmakers Amy Browne and Brian Wilson discuss their award-winning film, A Will for the Woods, the story of a man near the end of his life who prepares for his own green burial. This film has been named “One of the 9 documentaries you must see this year” by the TED blog and has won numerous awards at film festivals around the country. In this interview you will learn:

what inspired 4 young filmmakers to spend 4 years filming this end-of-life journey
what the movie teaches us about death and burial customs
how this film can change the funeral industry
how to plan your own green burial and create a “green will”

Co-Director/Producer, Amy Browne, grew up in Australia and moved to New York City to study theater at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and film at The New School University. Her film credits include Associate Producer for Crazy & Thief (LA Film Festival 2012) and I Used to be Darker (Sundance 2013), as well as work on The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye (Berlinale & Tribeca 2011). She also recently commenced work as the Producer on upcoming documentary As Worlds Divide. When her sister Sophie introduced her to the concept of green burial, which connects the profundity and beauty of nature with the cycle of death and life, Amy was inspired to further explore the idea through film.

Co-director/Editor, Brian Wilson, graduated from Brown University with a degree in Comparative Literature and History, and works as an editor in New York. Passionate about the natural world and its protection and restoration, he is pleased to be exploring and raising awareness about green burial with A Will for the Woods. He became interested in developing deeper insight into death after his mother died in 2008, and has been grateful to find it through working on this project, which he hopes will offer similar comfort and understanding to many viewers.

Website: www.awillforthewoods.com

Remember there’s a new episode every Monday! If you enjoy this content please consider leaving a review on iTunes. Until next week –

Face Your Fear BE Ready Love Your Life

End of Life, EOLPodcast, Hospice

Ep. 76 What My Hospice Patients Wanted You to Know

February 6, 2017February 2, 2017 kwyattmd

What advice do hospice patients have about how we should live?

In this episode I’ll share some of the wisdom I gathered from my hospice patients as they faced the end of life. This simple advice can help us live more fully with less fear and worry.

This podcast is sponsored through the EOLU donation page at Patreon.com/eolu. By contributing just $1 or $2 per month you can help support the podcast and the End-of-Life University Interview Series. If you become a supporter I will happily promote your book, website, cause or organization on a future episode of the podcast!

Today I have a huge thank-you for my new patron on Patreon.com/eolu: Kerrie Noonan. Thank you for your support Kerrie!

In the News:

An article on Time.com listed “7 New Jobs That Are So ‘2017’” and included Death Doula as one of the new occupations! What’s great about this is the fact that a major news outlet is breaking through the taboo and using the word “death” and that there has been a recognition of the importance of people who assist others at the end of life. In Episode 71 I listed Death Doula as one of the trends for the year and included links to several training programs for becoming a doula. If you are considering a career change or looking for some post-retirement work you might want to become a midwife for the dying. There will be a huge demand in the very near future for people fulfilling this role.
In a story reported on the Today show we learned that 31-year-old actor Chris Salvatore invited his 89-year-old neighbor to live with him when she was no longer able to live on her own. Salvatore and Norma live in the same apartment building and had been friends for about 5 years when she was hospitalized with leukemia and respiratory problems. When doctors told Norma she would have to go to a long-term care facility because she had no family members to care for her, Chris stepped up and took her into his home. He now provides care for her as she faces the end of her life. Doctors didn’t expect Norma to live through the holidays but she is thriving in her new home. This example of selfless generosity is exactly what we need as we move into the future where 25% of Baby Boomers will have no family members available to provide care to them. Well done Chris Salvatore – a huge salute to you from End-of-Life University!

What My Hospice Patients Wanted You to Know:

Here is some of the wisdom my hospice patients shared with me as they neared the end of their lives. I promised them that I would bring their messages to you since they are no longer here to speak for themselves.

The spiritual lessons I learned have been compiled in the book What Really Matters: 7 Lessons for Living from the Stories of the Dying. The following tips are the additional pieces of advice they had for all of us:

(Read the full blog post here.)

“What seems important now doesn’t matter in the end.”
“Don’t worry so much about diet and exercise.”
“Your doctor doesn’t have all the answers for you.”
“Your life’s purpose isn’t what you think.”
“Religion is less important than learning how to love others.”
“Dying isn’t as scary as you think.”
“You’re going to die anyway so you might as well be ready.”

Listen to this episode so you can learn more about each of these statements. And then maybe you’ll be inspired to change some aspects of your life and prepare for the very end!

Be sure to subscribe to End-of-Life Interview Series (if you haven’t already) so you can listen to our fantastic educational interviews with EOL experts every month. Go to www.eoluniversity.com to register. And if you’d like to support EOLU and this podcast check out the donation page at Patreon.com/eolu.

Tune in next week for another new episode and until then remember:

Face Your Fears. BE Ready. Love Your Life.

End of Life, EOLPodcast

Ep. 66: November End of Month Update on the End of Life

November 28, 2016November 28, 2016 kwyattmd

In this episode Dr. Wyatt thanks her latest supporter on Patreon.com/eolu, Suzanne O’Brien RN, founder of Doulagivers. If you would like to help support this podcast and End-of-Life University Interview Series for the small contribution of $1 or $2 per month, go to Patreon.com/eolu and sign up to become a supporter!

In other personal news, Dr. Wyatt just reached the 50,000 word goal on her novel-writing challenge for the month of November! Stay tuned for more information on Starry Night, a novel about living and dying!

Go to DeathExpo.com if you are interested in getting the downloadable filed from Death Expo 2016. Tune in to Episode 65 to hear the highlights and take-aways from this fantastic educational event!

Next Dr. Wyatt shares the latest news and information about end-of-life issues that caught her eye during the month of November:

Survey of seniors in the U.S. shows that 27% have done absolutely no planning or preparing for the end of life. Those least likely to have prepared correlate with the following characteristics: age between 65-74, black or Hispanic, low-income, low education level, and diagnosis of Alzheimers.
Canadian study shows that for seniors who have completed Advance Directives, Values and Choices do not always align, showing a lack of guidance for choosing end-of-plans and confusion about basing choices on underlying values
a paper cited in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management calls for improved consistency in honoring the EOL choices of patients in nursing homes and hospitals
Go Wish Card Game found helpful for patients completing their advance directives; helps them identify their values and priorities
Home-based Palliative Care shown to lower healthcare expenses in last year and 3 months of life, decrease hospital admissions and increase hospice utilizations. 87% of patients who receive palliative care at home are able to die at home, compared to only 24% of all Medicare patients who die at home
Review of 43 palliative care clinical studies shows that palliative care improves quality of life but does not extend life
UC Santa Cruz has started a program to pair pre-med students with hospice patients
Study shows doctors are reluctant to discontinue routine medications that are no longer indicated for their patients at the end of life due to lack of awareness, low priority, and fear of causing patient to feel abandoned
Colorado became 6th state in the U.S. to approved medically aided dying during the November election
AARP and the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging have a launched a campaign to identify seniors suffering with loneliness and isolation in order to connect them with community resources; 43% of seniors report loneliness which leads to medical consequences
new movie Collateral Beauty deals with grief and death and will be released on Dec. 16th
Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen died on November 7th at the age of 82

Tune in every Monday for a new episode! Subscribe and leave reviews on iTunes by going here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/end-of-life-university/id1033282990

Until next week remember:

Face Your Fears. BE Ready. Love Your Life.

EOLPodcast, Spirituality

Ep. 63 What Politics and Death Can Teach Us

November 7, 2016November 6, 2016 kwyattmd

Today Dr. Karen Wyatt thanks her supporters on Patreon.com/eolu whose generous donations help keep this podcast on the air!

She talks about the Death Expo 2016 which starts this week on November 10th. You can sign up at DeathExpo.com and read about all 12 of the speaker for this FREE online event.

Next Dr. Wyatt shares some thoughts about the upcoming presidential election here in the U.S. While she doesn’t take sides or share any particular political beliefs she describes the fact that the U.S. electorate seems maximally polarized and divided over this election, with each side predicting “doomsday” if the other side wins. She goes on to say:

the day after the election will begin a period of grief for each candidate and their “teams”: the losing candidate will grieve over all the money, time, energy and life force spent in this costly battle; the victor will hardly celebrate the win because the “prize” is to take on responsibility for re-uniting the whole and to embrace those from the opposing side who now must be governed with reason and compassion.
the irony of this election process is that no matter how different others appear to be from us, we are actually far more alike that we are different. We are all mortals–human incarnations of Spirit–just trying to survive here on planet Earth. But each of us will ultimately die and that is our most powerful common bond. We each share mortality and an innate fear of death.
Death is the most uniting force we have if we look at it from a higher perspective.
Sogyal Rinpoche said, “Life is nothing but a continuing dance of birth and death, a dance of change.” Ultimately change is what we seem to be seeking through our political process: we want others to change, the government to change, the system to change–all so that we don’t have to change ourselves. But the only meaningful change is the change we create within ourselves.
Here is a recommendation for a daily practice:
- contemplate your inner landscape and seek out the parts of you that fear change; the parts that harbor anger, hatred, negativity
- seek to understand your own pain and your wounds that cause you to react with anger and fear; journal about them and spend time contemplating them
- be aware of your behavior in relationships: what triggers your negative emotions? what causes you to lash out or shut down?
- embrace the wounded parts of yourself so that they can heal
- find the still point of equanimity within you and cultivate that; learn to operate from that place so that you can bring peace and healing to volatile situations
No matter how different you feel you are from your neighbors, family, and Facebook friends remember that Death ultimately unites us all as one. Contemplate your own death and allow the small deaths, the thousand changes that come to you every day, to move you forward. That’s how you will help the nation and our society heal again.

Tao Check out the book The Tao of Death which has verses to help you contemplate death every day in your practice!

Sign up for Death Expo 2016 now so you won’t miss a single interview! Tune in every Monday and until next week remember:

Face Your Fears. BE Ready. Love Your Life.

EOLPodcast, Tragedy

Ep. 61 Reflections on Mortality From My Travels in France

October 24, 2016October 22, 2016 kwyattmd

In this episode Dr. Wyatt begins by talking about Death Expo, a free online educational event, which is coming up on November 10-13, 2016! She describes the 12 speakers who will be presenting during the event. To sign up go to:

http://DeathExpo.com

She then thanks her supporters for making donations at Patreon.com/eolu to help keep EOLU Interview Series and Podcast on the air!

Dr. Wyatt describes her recent trip to France and some profound insights that she experienced regarding death and dying: