I’ve decided to move forward on getting a Master of Divinity, or MDiv. Why? A reason I’m working to become an independent chaplain to people who are dying, and to their families–an Advocate for the Spirit, I’ve sometimes thought would be a better name for what I want to do–is because our death is real, and the anticipation of our death is something I see shared… Read more →
While I’ve never seen this in a patient, I’ve certainly heard enough stories. And I can only assume, based on the dreams in the middle of life, that those in the end would come to bear on what life is at that time. A good article, and I’m going to start asking patients about their dreams. http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/02/02/health/dreams-dying-deathbed-interpretation-delirium.html?referer= Read more →
For my North Bay friends… Spiritual leaders across Sonoma Valley are addressing an inevitable topic that affects–Interfaith dialogue on death and dying in Sonoma | The Press Democrat Read more →
From the Jacksonville Florida Times Union (original article posted here) : GREEN COVE SPRINGS | They met in the smoking room while they were in hospice care. It was love at first sight for her, though it took him, he says, a full two or three days to figure out that that’s where his heart was also headed. She… Read more →
If you read my little review, but don’t feel you have the time to read the book, or want this as a n adjunct to it, here is the one hour PBS documentary based on it: Being Mortal | FRONTLINE | PBS. Read more →
Just finished Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. It was given to me by my mother-in-law, and we’ve had great discussions about it and end-of-life care in general as a result. It’s a good book to pass around the family. And it has opened a can of worms in the public conversation, or at least drawn our attention to… Read more →
I was telling a friend, Karen Erlichman, about hearing this on NPR. Dr. Michael Fratkin’s is creating a palliative care startup, ResolutionCare, to serve the people in rural northern California, and to be a model for individualized service everywhere. Since hearing this I’ve had some conversations with the doctor, and as you might expect, he’s a really nice guy, too.
Click here to hear the piece about his work, and here to see ResolutionCare’s website.
Now is the time. Read this first, dated July 27th, 2014. When I was growing up, my dad had a big sign on the wall of his ceramics studio: IF YOU WANT TO FIND OUT IF YOU’RE AN ANGEL, YOU MUST GO TO THE ABRUPT EDGE AND LEAP. As a boy and a young man I didn’t give the… Read more →
I just listened to the second episode of a new podcast, Invisibilia, on the topic of fear and fearlessness, and it got me thinking about what my fears are and how I’ve dealt with them. I’ve mentioned before about my decision at eight or nine to let myself completely conceive of my own death, and the weeks-long terror that caused in… Read more →
The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief or bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing…not healing, not curing…that is a friend who cares. ~Henri Nouwen What are you listening to? A mundane, of-this-world, questions. These days it would be asked mostly of someone… Read more →