We have so much to learn from the dying, but in order to do so, we must be willing to learn to listen. The dying are walking a territory we will walk on, (unless we die suddenly) and speaking a language that is foreign to us. By engaging with them, we can learn how to navigate that territory when our time comes. And we can hear their wisdom and allow it to awaken our own so that we live a life with more depth and meaning and die a death with more meaning, consciousness and awareness and without fear.
In a world that has been consumed by consumerism and dying from our wrecklessness, never has it been more important to STOP, remember we are mortal and ask what is the meaning in our living.
It’s time to take dying and death out of the shadows and put it front and centre ‘on the table’. In learning to do so, you can live a richer life with depth and meaning and die a gentler and more conscious death. Befriend your death.
It is time to create a new paradigm.
I am an artist and psychotherapist in Ireland who has specialised for over 15 years in working with palliatively ill and dying people. I am deeply passionate about my work. I consider myself an apprentice and the people I meet are some of my greatest teachers. It is well past time to fully open up communication about dying and death.
