FootprintsintheWind.com

Footprints in the Wind^sm # 1319

What of the role of the family and others who love the dying person? Are they merely empty conduits for the carrying of information? How can we love our families in the ways we choose to die?

Should we for instance take into account the different, maybe violently different or extreme, views of other family members? How do we reconcile differences?

Do we take the lead and do the work of eldering and loving and tell our story close in? Do we talk about our desires to receive and give forgiveness, about thanking, saying goodbyes, giving our soul substance, saying I love you in many ways? Does this bring us together? What brings families together? Stories and memories and heart things, invitation. Speaking of pain and seeing suffering and listening to one another.

Please pass it on.

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The work of dying is about conversing with: your self; meaning; the incomprehensibility of dying; family; community; something larger.

:- Doug.

Birth is a terminal condition. So we are working on our dying even today, in good health, while our daily rounds continue. This conversing about what care we want at end of life is saying I love you to one another; it is also saying whether and why we might want to be conscious and with family and at home. At home means comfort; conscious so we can do the 5 conversations; and with family so that we can feel the web of life that goes on.

:- Doug.

When you are dying what is the work you are doing?

:- Doug.