Life Matters

01/14/2025

She said, “Don't call the doctor, I want to fall asleep peacefully, with your hand in mine.” He told her about the past, how they met, their first kiss. they didn't cry, they smiled. They didn't regret anything, they were grateful. Then she repeated softly, 'I love you forever!' He returned her words, gave her a soft kiss on the forehead. She closed her eyes and fell asleep peacefully with her hand in his. Love is really all that matters because everyone comes into this world with nothing other than love and leaves with nothing other than love. Think about it. Profession, career, bank account, our goods are just tools, nothing more. Everything stays here. So just love….Love those that really love you. Love, as if there was nothing more important in your life.❤️

12/05/2023

YOU DON’T JUST LOSE SOMEONE ONCE

You lose them over and over,
sometimes in the same day.
When the loss, momentarily forgotten,
creeps up,
and attacks you from behind.
Fresh waves of grief as the realisation hits home,
they are gone.
Again.
You don’t just lose someone once,
you lose them every time you open your eyes to a new dawn,
and as you awaken,
so does your memory,
so does the jolting bolt of lightning that rips into your heart,
they are gone.
Again.
Losing someone is a journey,
not a one-off.
There is no end to the loss,
there is only a learned skill on how to stay afloat,
when it washes over.
Be kind to those who are sailing this stormy sea,
they have a journey ahead of them,
and a daily shock to the system each time they realise,
they are gone,
Again.
You don’t just lose someone once,
you lose them every day,
for a lifetime.
©Donna Ashworth

11/23/2023

At Life Matters, we just wanted to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful holiday season.

11/14/2023

One of the things we talk about in our Life Matters Workshop is elder care and we have a brilliant financial advisor, Janice Dunn of Dunn & Baird who will be speaking about ways to prepare for this in our upcoming workshop on January 20.  We’re doing things a little differently in this workshop than in the past. Instead of spreading the workshop out over six separate days, we are filling it with the same informative speakers all held in a one day event to make it easier for participants. This one’s going to book up fast so you’ll want to get registered quickly https://lifemattersworkshop.com

The United States has no coherent system for providing long-term care, leading many who are aging to struggle to stay independent or to rely on a patchwork of solutions.

11/09/2023

10/29/2023

“I want a life that sizzles and pops and makes me laugh out loud. And I don't want to get to the end, or to tomorrow, even, and realize that my life is a collection of meetings and pop cans and errands and receipts and dirty dishes. I want to eat cold tangerines and sing out loud in the car with the windows open and wear pink shoes and stay up all night laughing and paint my walls the exact color ...of the sky right now. I want to sleep hard on clean white sheets and throw parties and eat ripe tomatoes and read books so good they make me jump up and down, and I want my everyday to make God belly laugh, glad that he gave life to someone who loves the gift.”-Shauna Niequist, Cold Tangerines: Celebrating the Extraordinary Nature of Everyday Life

10/22/2023

Stephanie Frostad (American, born 1965)
Listening Post, 2000
Oil on canvas
30 x 20 inches
Private collection

Courtesy of A CELEBRATION OF FEMALE ARTISTS

10/20/2023

Listen to your heart today.

I remember a teacher I had decades ago that asked me if I ever sit down.

“Of course I sit down, every day“ I responded. “I sit down when I am reading a book, watching a movie, talking with a friend, etc.”

“But do you ever sit down and do nothing?” She asked.

“ Do nothing? Sit and do nothing? Even the question was foreign to me. Over the next few weeks, she taught me the value of sitting in complete silence doing absolutely nothing every day. I started with about 15 minutes. I felt like I was going to go crazy just sitting there doing nothing! I had so much to do! But soon the value began to reveal itself, in the calmness I felt inside, the quieting of the mind and all of its stories, and every once in a while, an answer would come to some thing I had been wondering about. It would just show up.

I believe this meme is true, your heart knows things your mind can’t explain. May I suggest each one of you take a few minutes today and sit and do nothing and listen to your heart. 

And please join us at .com

10/19/2023

What sounds echo from our past, what forgotten melodies and voices? Voices of those who are no longer beside us, music that we can no longer remember, rustle of leaves, a murmur of rain … All that happened long ago and seemingly not with us.

****

It always starts about this time of year when the leaves start changing and the temperatures go low. All the memories rush back in—the good ones, and the sad ones.  but life is for the living, and living, we are. Feeling grateful for the breath and the opportunity to live and to love. Some of us have lost that. So today let’s be reminded to live, to laugh and to love others and ourselves.

10/18/2023

✨Expected Death ~ When someone dies, the first thing to do is nothing. Don't run out and call the nurse. Don't pick up the phone. Take a deep breath and be present to the magnitude of the moment.

There's a grace to being at the bedside of someone you love as they make their transition out of this world. At the moment they take their last breath, there's an incredible sacredness in the space. The veil between the worlds opens.

We're so unprepared and untrained in how to deal with death that sometimes a kind of panic response kicks in. "They're dead!"

We knew they were going to die, so their being dead is not a surprise. It's not a problem to be solved. It's very sad, but it's not cause to panic.

If anything, their death is cause to take a deep breath, to stop, and be really present to what's happening. If you're at home, maybe put on the kettle and make a cup of tea.

Sit at the bedside and just be present to the experience in the room. What's happening for you? What might be happening for them? What other presences are here that might be supporting them on their way? Tune into all the beauty and magic.

Pausing gives your soul a chance to adjust, because no matter how prepared we are, a death is still a shock. If we kick right into "do" mode, and call 911, or call the hospice, we never get a chance to absorb the enormity of the event.

Give yourself five minutes or 10 minutes, or 15 minutes just to be. You'll never get that time back again if you don't take it now.

After that, do the smallest thing you can. Call the one person who needs to be called. Engage whatever systems need to be engaged, but engage them at the very most minimal level. Move really, really, really, slowly, because this is a period where it's easy for body and soul to get separated.

Our bodies can gallop forwards, but sometimes our souls haven't caught up. If you have an opportunity to be quiet and be present, take it. Accept and acclimatize and adjust to what's happening. Then, as the train starts rolling, and all the things that happen after a death kick in, you'll be better prepared.

You won't get a chance to catch your breath later on. You need to do it now.

Being present in the moments after death is an incredible gift to yourself, it's a gift to the people you're with, and it's a gift to the person who's just died. They're just a hair's breath away. They're just starting their new journey in the world without a body. If you keep a calm space around their body, and in the room, they're launched in a more beautiful way. It's a service to both sides of the veil.

Credit for the beautiful words ~ Sarah Kerr, Ritual Healing Practitioner and Death Doula , Death doula
Beautiful art by Columbus Community Deathcare

https://lifemattersworkshop.com