There’s more to dying than meets the eye

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There’s more to dying than meets the eye

October 17, 2018 by notjustagranny

I am currently attending a course on becoming an End of Life Doula. It fits in with my job and is something I have been interested in for quite a few years. It has been a very interesting journey so far. As part of our homework for the 2nd part of the course this weekend, we had to complete a few exercises relative to what we learned/experienced at the first weekend, so the first place I started was at http://kristiewest.com/aboutkristiewest/

Kristie is a long-standing friend of mine and I have always admired her approach to life and death. We actually met at an event where her path in life changed course, and took her on the journey that was to lead her to where she is now, and to specialising in her field of expertise. I’d like to share this with you because I fully believe that what she shares can have a profound affect on how we view or approach death and grief.

The course I’m doing has so far been very interesting and surprisingly the first section didn’t actually deal with death at all, but rather about our, the participants, beliefs and values. The exercises we did all revolved around us, the potential Doula and about how we think of death and relate to people.

We delved into subjects like confidentiality, communication skills, about our attitudes, ethics and most importantly about our listening skills. We spoke abut the types of listening and then we had to share a story from our lives to one of the group while they practised effective listening as another person observed how they ‘listened’. We explored our ideas and again beliefs on a range of subjects from euthanasia, keeping secrets, involving family, about a dying person’s last wishes, rituals about the role we would take and what we would find acceptable in that role or not.

I’m looking forward to the this weekend where we participate in another 2 days of training.

Posted in family and relationships, gratitude, It's my life, spirituality | Tagged dealing with gried, dealing with grief, end of life care, end of life doula, family and relationships, talking about death, what about bereavement | 5 Comments

5 Responses

on October 17, 2018 at 9:03 pm | Reply T E Stazyk

What an amazing and selfless thing to do–I’m sure you will help a lot of people and make a big positive difference. Best of luck–I’m sure it will be a challenging journey.
- on October 17, 2018 at 9:34 pm | Reply notjustagranny
  
  Hi Thomas, how lovely to hear from you 🙂 Thank you, yes I’m looking forward to it. I’ve worked with elderly people at the end of their lives quite a lot over the last 8 years, more recently I finished an assignment just last week, and it is weirdly very satisfying….I enjoy the nurturing aspects of that. Having no fear of death I think helps as well, as I’m not phased by the process. The course has been really good and most interesting. take care. I trust all is well your side of the world…..
  - on October 17, 2018 at 9:47 pm T E Stazyk
    
    Thanks Cindy–all’s well here. Allegedly it’s spring but we are still dressed like it’s winter!
  - on October 18, 2018 at 3:34 pm notjustagranny
    
    Glad to hear all is well 🙂 Yes, well we’re supposed to be in autumn but are still having very hot days…. almost t-shirt and shorts weather!! LOL
on October 22, 2018 at 10:55 pm | Reply Doula training | Not Just a Granny

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