Conscious Dying: Living one’s best life
One of the tenets of my practice has always been to adopt a “conscious dying” framework. This grew out of my death doula training. Simply put, conscious dying is the awareness that death comes to us all and encourages all of us to live our lives each day with purpose or presence, recognizing that our time on this earth is limited.
As part of this training, conscious dying encourages us to think about how our lives might be different if we knew we only had three months to live and challenges us to explore if and how we would make changes to our existing circumstances and relationships based on this realization. Conscious dying provokes us to stop “putting off for tomorrow” and instead maximize each and every day.
This may sound like a luxury - not everyone can change their lives in this way - but even if that is the case, I have found in my personal life it has caused me to reframe even those periods of struggle and hardship. It has made me be more present in my daily life and celebrate both the good and the bad. So, I have a toothache? Well, I am thankful to have this day to experience that pain vs. the alternative of not being alive (and I am thankful I have dental coverage!). It has shifted my perspective to consciously notice the good around me every day - today is cooler than yesterday, the new goslings in the stream, etc.
It has been truly life changing.
And so, it is in that spirit of living my life to the fullest that I have decided to embrace my retirement effective at the end of this month. At the beginning of the new year my family will launch a new adventure and move ourselves to France - a long time dream for us.
For those of you wishing to refer new clients, please reach out to the following folks for support.
Death Doula Services: The International End-of-Life Doula Association has a directory of Death Doulas that can assist you, as does the Conscious Dying Collaborative.
After-Loss Support: For after-loss services, I highly recommend After Loss Advisors in the Denver area. They provide compassionate, hands-on support to families navigating the logistical and emotional tasks that follow the death of a loved one. The can help organize, prioritize, and complete essential next steps with clarity, care, and discretion.
Serving as a death doula and after-loss professional for these last five years has been greatly rewarding and it has been an honor to work with all of you. I wish you all great success in your personal and professional journeys.
Be well.
Kim
