Let’s face it, thinking and talking openly about death is generally frowned upon and shied away from in our culture. Death brings up big, powerful and overwhelming feelings that few of us are truly ready for or adequately prepared to face. Deep down, we know that we will lose loved ones and that we ourselves will die someday, but we push it away into a deep corner of our mind and ignore it, telling ourselves we will deal with it only when we have to.
With a career in naturopathic medicine, it has been my lifelong mission to help people live their healthiest lives and prevent disease as much as possible. Keeping ourselves healthy and living a full and happy life can help us to make a peaceful end of life transition when the time comes. I realize that most people are hesitant to talk about dying but I believe it is in our collective best interest as human beings deserving of peace and dignity to remove as much fear and stigma as possible about the process of death.
Talking about death and dying doesn’t need to be scary. In fact, I believe that talking openly about our concerns, questions and emotions about death, as well as having honest discussions with our families and people close to us, can ease the fear and resistance that ccan make the topic so difficult and daunting.
An End of Life Doula can provide experienced and sensitive guidance in opening these discussions and subject matters. They can also help facilitate and mediate discussions if that is desired.
