a presentation of ... Creative Healing, LLC
End-of-Life Book Club
End-of-Life Book Club
Change your community by starting an end-of-life book club!
Change your community by starting an end-of-life book club!
JGI/JAMIE GRILL VIA GETTY IMAGES
How to Start an End-of-Life Book Club in Your Community
If you are interested in overcoming our society’s fear of death and improving the way we handle the dying process, you might consider starting a year-long end-of-life book club in your community. It may sound excessive to spend an entire year reading and talking about death, but remember that Tibetans begin preparing for death as soon as they reach adulthood—surely we can dedicate one year to our own preparations for the end-of-life.
In our society death is shoved into the background of our lives and goes largely unexamined until circumstances force us to pay attention. And by that time it is often too late to make meaningful choices for our life and our death and we end up receiving the default end-of-life care resorted to by our healthcare system: overtreatment and overly “medicalized” care.
Edward Morgan once wrote, “A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it.” Since there is no more fragile thought for most of us than death, a book can be the perfect place to study the process, learn all of death’s angles and edges, and discover the choices and options that are the best fit for us.
12-month template for suggested books to read:
12-month template for suggested books to read:
2 Understanding death and dying issues in the U.S.
2 Understanding death and dying issues in the U.S.
3 Why and how to create advance directives
3 Why and how to create advance directives
4 How to prepare for dying by living a full life
4 How to prepare for dying by living a full life
5 How to live, love and die consciously
5 How to live, love and die consciously
6 Understanding the impact of Alzheimer's disease
6 Understanding the impact of Alzheimer's disease
7 How to communicate with an Alzheimer's patient
7 How to communicate with an Alzheimer's patient
8 Finding humor in death and dying
8 Finding humor in death and dying
9 Learning the skills necessary to "die wise and die well"
9 Learning the skills necessary to "die wise and die well"
10 Rituals for coping with grief
10 Rituals for coping with grief
11 Considering funeral and burial options
11 Considering funeral and burial options
12 Exploring the possibility of an afterlife
12 Exploring the possibility of an afterlife
Other Recommended Books:
Other Recommended Books: