The Completed Life Initiative

09/18/2024

Due to overwhelming interest, the application deadline has been extended to September 27. Please share the news that the Completed Life Initiative and Death with Dignity have created the Global Fellows in End of Life Care project to further global conversations of end-of-life care. This inaugural program seeks a cohort of 5 to 10 fellows to explore end-of-life topics and conversations. Learn more at: https://completedlife.org/global-fellows-in-end-of-life-care/

09/18/2024

Thanks for those who participated in the Virtual Art of Grief retreat! From discussing the movement of Martha Graham to the vibrations of a harp string on our skin, the diary of Frida Khalo to the possibilities of singing a new note, each of us left the retreat with a deeper understanding that, though we grieve alone, we are never alone in our grief.
If you would like to attend a future Art of Grief retreat or would like to request that an in-person retreat come to your community, please reach out to Lynn Barger Elliott ([email protected])

09/13/2024

We are pleased to invite NYC Doulas for a special evening at the Completed Life Gathering Space. Join CLI Director of Outreach, Lynn Barger Elliott, as she hosts a conversation with end-of-life doulas Colleen Katz and Virginia Chang as they discuss a case study scenario of a child experiencing grief, highlighting the unique challenges of serving as a New York City doula.

Register: https://secure.everyaction.com/DAmMhYi3AUGMuKgyploynA2

09/12/2024

Don't miss your chance to join us for the virtual Art of Grief Retreat this Saturday, 3-5PM! CLI Directors Lynn & Mark Barger Elliott will lead us on a captivating journey, exploring how artists throughout history have transformed their grief into powerful works of art. This is your final opportunity to dive deep into the world where grief and creativity intersect. Secure your spot now and gain profound insights into grief as an art form.

Register here: https://secure.everyaction.com/9SGlWBH1KUuu9e1vjGPk_w2

09/11/2024

In this year-long program, a cohort of 5 to 10 Fellows create and complete projects to spark reflection and re-evaluation, and further the global conversation of end-of-life care. Applications for the 2024 Fellows project close on September 23.
Learn more at: completedlife.org/global-fellows

The Global Fellows in End-of-Life Care project re-imagines one of our most transformative human experiences, our dying. Co-founded by the Completed Life Initiative and Death with Dignity, this Fellows program seeks to positively impact how we live our lives and how we die. In this year-long program,...

09/10/2024

"Art can help us take something from deep within ourselves", says Lynn Barger Elliott, Executive Producer and Host of Completed Life Podcasts,"and put it into the world for others to see."

Join us virtually this Saturday for "The Art of Grief Retreat," where we will explore and reflect on artists such as painter Lee Krasner, architect David Adjaye, musician Nick Cave, dancer Martha Graham and guests on The Art of Grief podcast who created out of their grief.

09/09/2024

Epicurus offered the reflection that “The art of living well and the art of dying well are one.” Join us at 6:00pm on Thursday, September 26th at Columbia University's Italian Academy for the 2nd Annual Faith Sommerfield Memorial Lecture, which commemorates Faith Sommerfield’s lifelong interest in autonomy and end-of-life care. Our keynote speaker this year is Professor Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek from Łódź, Poland, whose expertise on utilitarianism and notions of what it means to live well combines with a recent personal perspective towards dying well and the completed life, specifically writing and speaking about her fight against breast cancer last year.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/faith-sommerfield-memorial-lecture-living-well-dying-well-registration-978335286177?aff=oddtdtcreator

09/05/2024

Join us for the Art of Grief retreat where we will consider artists like - the painter Lee Krasner, the architect David Adjaye, the musician Nick Cave, the dancer Martha Graham and others, including The Art of Grief podcast guests - who created out of their grief. Reflecting upon their insights, participants will have the opportunity to contemplate their own experiences around grief and how art might offer new ways to express and to reshape that grief.

Groups will meet on Saturday, September 14 in person at our Midtown Manhattan offices from 10-Noon or online, 3-5PM. The cost will be $69 and will include a printed and downloadable workbook. Click here to register.

https://secure.everyaction.com/9SGlWBH1KUuu9e1vjGPk_w2

08/30/2024

We are excited to announce that our 2nd annual Faith Sommerfield Memorial Lecture will be held Thursday, September 26, 2024 in the Italian Academy Teatro at Columbia University. This year's presenter, Professor Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek from Łódź, Poland, will speak about living and dying well. Professor de Lazari-Radek’s professional expertise is on utilitarianism and notions of what it means to live well.

Register now at the link below:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/faith-sommerfield-memorial-lecture-living-well-dying-well-registration-978335286177?aff=oddtdtcreator

08/29/2024

From the words of the poet W.H. Auden to the notes of Taylor Swift’s producer, Jack Antonoff… from the structures of the architect of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, David Adjaye, to the strokes of the painter Frida Kahlo - artists have always expanded our ability to express grief.

Join Lynn Barger Elliott, Host and Executive Producer of Completed Life Podcasts, and Mark Barger Elliott, Executive Director of CLI and an award-winning documentary filmmaker, as they explore insights and methods of artists who have addressed their grief and offer new ways of considering how to express our own grief.
https://secure.everyaction.com/9SGlWBH1KUuu9e1vjGPk_w2

08/28/2024

We extend a heartfelt thank you to the nearly 200 people who joined us for a special 3-part series, “Live from 10 Grand Central: Rhythms of Being”! Your presence made all three nights unforgettable and we are so grateful to have shared our space with you.
Stay tuned for more events this fall! To be the first to know about our upcoming events, make sure to sign up for our e-newsletter. Here’s to more rhythms and connections!
https://completedlife.org/get-the-completed-life-updates/

08/22/2024

What is grief? Some say it is a verb, something we do. Others say it is a place, a bridge between two shores. At the Completed Life Initiative, we wonder if grief might be an art.

Inspired by the wonderful response to The Art of Grief podcast, we invite you to join us for an online and in-person The Art of Grief Retreat, Saturday, September 14th. In our time together, we will reflect on wisdom and insights from the artists interviewed for this podcast series, as well as new insights from artists such as the painter Lee Kasner and the singer Nick Cave.

https://completedlife.org/the-art-of-grief-retreat/

08/21/2024

Join us tomorrow for our third and final "Rhythms of Being" performance where we will hear Jewish melodies featuring Rabbi Zach Fredman. He will be playing the Oud, an ancient eleven stringed lute is the ancestor of the guitar, played across the Middle East and North Africa where the ethereal sounds and rhythms of the desert instrument move souls through death, mourning, healing, and celebration.

https://secure.everyaction.com/QwAs1YNLF0Ovix5QNuvlcg2

08/20/2024

The sixth episode of The Art of Grief is now available!

This week’s podcast features an interview with Paul Crawford, Curator of the Penticton Art Gallery in Penticton, British Columbia. In the Spring of 2024, Crawford curated the MAiD in Canada exhibit, where he invited family and friends of the 50,000 Canadians who have used MAiD to handwrite, type or email letters sharing feelings of grief and loss. Their stories shaped the exhibit and became the topic of many community-wide conversations.

https://youtu.be/-PdR10jhROc?feature=shared

This podcast features an interview with Paul Crawford, Curator of the Penticton Art Gallery in Penticton, British Columbia. Crawford has used his platform as...

08/19/2024

Thank you to the Amir Vahab Ensemble and the 74 people who joined us last Thursday for our second "Rhythms of Being" Concert. This night featured a wonderful performance of traditional Sufi melodies interwoven with the poetry of Rumi, a 13th-century Persian poet. Amir spoke about how the theme of living well and dying well exists in the heart of both Sufi music and Rumi’s poetry.

Did you miss this event? You can join us this Thursday, 8/22 for our third and final "Rhythms of Being" performance, where we will hear Jewish melodies featuring Rabbi Zach Fredman playing the Oud. Register here: https://shorturl.at/wfAsh

08/15/2024

It was wonderful to host the inaugural gathering of over 50 NYC Doulas at the Completed Life Gathering Space. What an amazing evening of building community and learning together.

Thank you to Virginia Chang and Emma Acker who expertly guided us through a case study scenario, an exercise which offered lessons in recognizing patterns, hearing unspoken desires and considering new ways of being present as a doula.

Join us for our next gathering, Thursday October 10, with Colleen Katz, PhD, LCSW, Associate Professor at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, who will speak on Childhood Grief.

08/14/2024

5 SEATS LEFT! Join us tomorrow, August 15th at the Completed Life Gathering Space for the 2nd night of "Rhythms of Being: Celebrating life, death, and rebirth through music." We are grateful to The Amir Vahab Ensemble (http://www.tanbour.org/index.php) for joining us. Amir Vahab has dedicated his life to preserving and sharing the Sufi musical tradition. Tomorrow, experience an evening accompanied by traditional Sufi melodies with contemporary influences that weave together connections through sacred sounds.

Register here: https://shorturl.at/1Ltpf

08/13/2024

In this episode, Samuel Sangwa, an expert in creating international cultural and arts events, shares how he invited artists - dancers, sculptors, poets and painters - to use their craft to show ways in which the deeply held Rwandan value of Ubuntu - the belief that “a person is a person through other people” - could help interpret the work of Palliative Care. This interview was first featured in Last Hellos: New Models in Global End of Life Care Symposium. Click here to listen: https://youtu.be/Ig5P3DkmuJU?si=8C-cmniCSuBrNpks

The new episode of the Art of Grief podcast series features a conversation with Samuel Sangwa, who invited artists to use their craft to show ways in which t...

08/12/2024

Join us on August 15th at the Completed Life Gathering Space for the 2nd night of "Rhythms of Being: Celebrating life, death, and rebirth through music." We are grateful to The Amir Vahab Ensemble (http://www.tanbour.org/index.php) for joining us this week. Sufism offers the combination of music and poetry for us to explore a deeper connection to ourselves, others, and to our world. This week, experience an evening accompanied by traditional Sufi melodies with contemporary influences that weave together connections through sacred sounds.

Register here: https://shorturl.at/1Ltpf

08/09/2024

Thank you to the 71 attendees who filled our Completed Life Gathering Space for last evening’s debut of Rhythms of Being. We are grateful to Miriam Rubin and Farez Hernandez, students of Nana Marina Cruz, a spiritual guide from the Tzutujil Mayan community in Guatemala, who led us with hand drums and song, and offered those who gathered the Mayan ceremony of Cacao.

Register for Nights Two and Three of our Concert Series here: https://shorturl.at/pBsKQ

08/07/2024

Join us on August 15th for a wonderful evening of traditional Sufi melodies with contemporary influences interwoven with the poetry of Rumi, a 13th-century Persian poet. Sufis believe that music and poetry offer us a chance for a deeper connection to ourselves, others, and to our world. In our Completed Life Gathering Space, these melodies and words will gently guide our minds and hearts to such connections through sacred sounds.

Register here: https://shorturl.at/1Ltpf

08/06/2024

10 SEATS LEFT! Join us this Thursday on 8/8/24 as we celebrate the cycles of life, death, and rebirth through rhythmic drumming music and shared cacao at the Gathering Space of the Completed Life Initiative. Ceremonial cacao is a chocolate seed that has been shared for millennia in Mayan and MesoAmerican culture as an essential source of physical and spiritual nourishment for ceremonies such as births, marriages, community and political negotiations, conflict resolution, and spiritual offerings. Ceremonial cacao is known to have powerful antioxidants that stimulate the brain to release endorphins, lower our stress levels, and give us a general sense of connection to creativity, nature, and wellbeing.
Register here:

This special concert series invites us to immerse ourselves in three different cultural and musical traditions.

08/05/2024

Reserve your spot now for a special evening with NYC Doulas at the Completed Life Gathering Space! Join us as Lynn Barger Elliott, Director of Outreach for CLI and recipient of the UVM End of Life Doula Professional Certificate, facilitates a conversation with end of life doulas Virginia Chang and Emma Acker, as they guide us through a case study scenario which will highlight the unique factors of serving as a NYC doula. The evening will begin with a light dinner and opportunity to connect with local doulas..
Click here to register: https://secure.everyaction.com/_3zQWzuDukGQJUtFpIHXIA2

08/02/2024

The fourth episode of The Art of Grief is available TODAY. Click the link below to listen.

This week’s podcast features an interview with journalist Greg Melville, author of Over My Dead Body: Unearthing the Hidden History of America's Cemeteries. In this conversation, we learn how cemeteries functioned as the first public art museums, how Abraham Lincoln redefined the concept of “the Good Death” in his Gettysburg Address, and how Facebook has become the largest (digital) graveyard. Enjoy this fascinating interview of the history in America of honoring those who have died with artistic creations.

Through interviews with artists - writers, musicians, visual artists and storytellers - The Art of Grief explores how they use their craft to engage and re-design the architecture of their grief. As these artists discuss their work, a reassurance is offered - that though we might grieve alone, we are never alone in our grief.

https://youtu.be/S2UllGqhQf0?si=iMqygWJxCp55vfkf

ofGrief

The new episode of the Art of Grief podcast series features a conversation with author Greg Melville. ...

08/01/2024

Reserve your spot now for a special evening with NYC Doulas at the Completed Life Gathering Space. Join us as Lynn Barger Elliott, Director of Outreach for CLI and recent recipient of the UVM End of Life Doula Professional Certificate, facilitates a conversation with end of life doulas Virginia Chang and Emma Acker, as they guide us through a case study scenario which will highlight the unique factors of serving as a NYC doula. The evening will begin with a light dinner and opportunity to connect with local doulas.

Virginia Chang, Ph.D., is an end-of-life doula (tillthelastdoula.com), a hospice volunteer, and an instructor for the University of Vermont End-of-Life Doula Certificate program. She has written on death, mortality, and the work of a doula, and has been featured by CNN, AARP, and PBS media outlets.

Emma Acker is an end-of-life doula and an artist. In 2021, she founded All’s Well Initiative to provide compassionate end-of-life care across the socioeconomic spectrum of NYC. She is proud to be part of the Artists’ Grief Deck project and a founding team member of Here to Honor, growing and supporting death literacy within communities.

Click here to reserve your spot.
https://secure.everyaction.com/_3zQWzuDukGQJUtFpIHXIA2

The Completed Life Initiative is pleased to invite doulas from the end-of-life community in New York City to join us for an evening with Virginia Chang and Emma Acker as they guide us through a case study scenario which will highlight the unique factors of serving as an NYC doula.

07/31/2024

What is the meaning of 8/8? In the Sacred Mayan Calendar, 8/8 marks the beginning of a 13-day period dedicated to Q'Anil, which honors the power of the seeds of life in the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. On 8/8/24, the Completed Life Initiative invites you to celebrate the cycles of life, death, and rebirth through rhythmic drumming music and shared cacao.

To register for this event, please visit: https://bit.ly/3ypsYnh

ABOUT THE EVENT

Farez Hernandez and Miriam Rubin are students of Nana Marina Cruz, a spiritual guide and wisdom keeper of the Sacred Mayan Calendar and the lifeways of Cacao. Farez and Miriam are co-founders of the Web of Life Community, an ethnically and generationally diverse community of humans, based in New York City, united in their desire and commitment to recover ancient human wisdom, and express evolutionary human potential to create a compassionate, creative, caring civilization that honors each other and the planet. Follow Web of Life on Instagram at .nyc

Rhythms of Being Celebrating life, death, and rebirth through music A Concert Series in New York City Details6:30PM - 8:00PM on August 8,15& 22155 E.44th Street, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10017 $10 donation to reserve your ticket for each performance This special concert series invites us to immerse....

07/30/2024

Ceremonial cacao is raw cacao prepared with special prayers, a tradition that has been shared in MesoAmerican culture as an essential source of physical and spiritual nourishment for life cycle ceremonies. Ceremonial cacao is known to have powerful antioxidants that stimulate the brain to release endorphins, lower our stress levels, and give us a general sense of connection to creativity, nature, and wellbeing. Register today to attend a live cacao ceremony on Thursday, August 8th!
Click here to learn more and register:
https://completedlife.org/live-from-10-grand-central-rhythms-of-being-concert-series/

This special concert series invites us to immerse ourselves in three different cultural and musical traditions.

07/29/2024

The third episode of The Art of Grief is now available!

Through interviews with artists - writers, musicians, visual artists and storytellers - we explore how they use their craft to engage and re-design the architecture of their grief. As these artists discuss their work, a reassurance is offered - that though we might grieve alone, we are never alone in our grief.

This week’s podcast features an interview with harpist, hospice chaplain, interfaith minister, and music thanatologist Catharine DeLong. In this conversation, we learn that since ancient times, the harp has been considered an instrument of the gods because of its ability to soften boundaries, that DeLong and Harpo Marx took a lesson with the same teacher, and that there are fewer than 100 music thanatologists on the planet. Enjoy the beautiful music and deep reflections in this podcast. Click the link here to listen: https://youtu.be/jNJLsu3-j8o?si=Ec0HGP0WJ3FOI-cC

Photo by: Zaza Weissgerber

07/25/2024

The Completed Life Initiative is delighted to invite you to a special interactive event featuring ceremonial cacao, drumming, and meditation offered by Miriam Rubin and Farez Hernandez. Ceremonial cacao is raw cacao prepared with special prayers, a tradition that has been shared in MesoAmerican culture as an essential source of physical and spiritual nourishment for life cycle ceremonies. Ceremonial cacao is known to have powerful antioxidants that stimulate the brain to release endorphins, lower our stress levels, and give us a general sense of connection to creativity, nature, and wellbeing. Register today! https://completedlife.org/live-from-10-grand-central-rhythms-of-being-concert-series/

This special concert series invites us to immerse ourselves in three different cultural and musical traditions.

07/23/2024

Calling NYC Doulas! You are invited to join other NYC Doulas for an evening of conversations at the Completed Life Gathering Space on Tuesday, August 13, 6-7:30PM. Be our guest as we enjoy a light dinner together and then convene for a discussion, facilitated by Lynn Barger Elliott, the Director of Outreach for the Completed Life Initiative and graduate of the UVM End of Life Doula Professional Certificate program.

The presenters for the evening are Virginia Chang, an End of Life Doula and Instructor, and Emma Acker, an End of Life Doula and Artist, who will lead us through a case study scenario.

Spots are limited. Reserve your place now!
https://secure.everyaction.com/_3zQWzuDukGQJUtFpIHXIA2