Death and Dying Articles

Culture and Society » Death and Dying | By Adam Shaw @ Monday, 30th June 2008 @ 12:40 AM

After over 13 years working a nurse I had witnessed some weird and wonderful things. Occasionally, one of them stands out as significant. Back in '97-'98 I went to Australia with a one year working visa. During this time I worked for nurse agencies in Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. The experience was a good one as I was able to see how another health care system worked. During this period a stack of interesting experiences occurred for me, though the most significant happened in... more...

Culture and Society » Death and Dying | By Candace Talmadge @ Wednesday, 18th June 2008 @ 6:23 PM

The caramel-colored corgi spotted me walking toward the city-run recreation center. Out for a walk with his person, the little dog stopped in his tracks and fixed me in his gaze. The woman on the end of his leash tried to move him along, but he wouldn't budge. He stood his ground, waiting for me to approach him. I bent down and opened my palm for him to sniff, talking softly to him. He licked my hand and fingers eagerly, and enjoyed having his head rubbed and ears scratched. O... more...

Culture and Society » Death and Dying | By Candace Talmadge @ Monday, 16th June 2008 @ 4:08 AM

"Donna" was trapped in an agony of indecision. Her eight-year marriage to a man older than she, of another ationality, culture, and religion, had never been easy. Now it was threatening to founder on the rocky shoals of severe financial strain and quarrels over in-laws. At age 29, she already had one child, a daughter nearly three years old. She was pregnant again. This time, Donna couldn't feel the joy so many other women experience on learning this news. She ... more...

Culture and Society » Death and Dying | By Candace Talmadge @ Friday, 13th June 2008 @ 8:50 PM

After requesting protection, the healing circle conductor then tells the inquirer to speak the name of the soul in question. The inquirer verbalizes the soul's full name two times and a pet or nickname the third time. Thought-Energy Communication Sometimes, the soul hesitates to enter the circle precisely because there are strangers present. If that's so, the conductor should ask the inquirer to repeat the same name sequence aloud once more. Other times, the soul is so ea... more...

Culture and Society » Death and Dying | By Candace Talmadge @ Friday, 13th June 2008 @ 8:49 PM

Just because someone has asked for a healing circle does not obligate you to conduct one. Check into the inquirer's motives carefully. You not only have the right to feel comfortable with the inquirer, you actually need to establish some sort of rapport to help ensure the success of the session. Do not force a session down the throat of a person whose fear level is too high. If you do, you probably won't get very far because that inquirer will be in a state of heavy denial. <... more...

Culture and Society » Death and Dying | By Candace Talmadge @ Friday, 13th June 2008 @ 8:25 PM

A healing circle--better known as a seance--is one of the most misunderstood and thus inadvertently abused of all spiritual healing practices. The very word seance immediately brings to mind what most people consider the unreal and laughable notion of "conjuring up spirits." Derided by some, proscribed by others, the healing circle tragically has degenerated into a casual pastime with no more apparent significance or meaning than a video game. The seance begins as a lark or... more...

Culture and Society » Death and Dying | By Martin Brinkmann @ Monday, 9th June 2008 @ 8:15 AM

Funerals are ceremony or procession commonly held for deceased persons. The ceremony may be in the forms of a simple memorial service attended by family and friends while it can also be grand State burial usually for soldiers who died in the battlefield. A funeral consists of an assortment of customs which might be different for people of different religions and culture. Depending on the wishes of the deceased persons, their religions and the customs of their families, the deceased may be... more...

Culture and Society » Death and Dying | By Uchenna Ani-Okoye @ Sunday, 8th June 2008 @ 11:01 PM

The number one rule of saving for retirement is to begin saving immediately. Be sure to talk with someone in your company about the pros and cons of borrowing from your retirement funds. Following this simple guideline will hopefully help you reach your retirement goals at a decent age. Retirement is to be realized some day. With baby boomers reaching retirement age, we may be seeing a larger wave of retirees moving that way. After the official reception was completed we brought the left ... more...

Culture and Society » Death and Dying | By Candace Talmadge @ Friday, 6th June 2008 @ 4:32 AM

If home is where the heart is, so also dwells there a place for healing the grief and anguish of losing a child or any loved one. All we need do is step inside our heart by means of a heart-centered meditation. The heart isn't only a physical organ or merely an intellectual concept. The heart is the very center of our self-awareness--our consciousness as created souls. The heart is where mind, body, feelings, and spirit come together and where issues within self and between se... more...

Culture and Society » Death and Dying | By Candace Talmadge @ Saturday, 31st May 2008 @ 11:36 AM

This was not a typical get-back-in-touch letter from a business associate who moved out of town some years ago. Instead, a mother wrote about the quiet death of her five-week-old daughter in the child's car seat. It happened on the way to the home of baby's grandparents, where the extended family was anticipating the arrival. What should have been a joyous visit turned to stunned anguish. Two and a half years later, the woman was just coming to terms with her tragic loss... more...

Culture and Society » Death and Dying | By Catherine Harvey @ Friday, 16th May 2008 @ 6:04 PM

Will writing is one of the most important documents you will be author to in your entire life. It is the last possible thing you can say to your loved ones, or others, before you are shuffled off this mortal coil. And many take advantage of this. Some take their demise dead seriously and use it as a time to declare their undying love to their families, leaving them in agonising emotional turmoil but in no uncertainty about how you felt about them. Some use will writing as the oppor... more...

Culture and Society » Death and Dying | By nicholas giuditta @ Sunday, 27th April 2008 @ 11:30 PM

Winning the lottery? Writing a hit song? Having someone make medical decisions for you? The first two may be unlikely, but more often than you may think, a stranger may make life or death decisions for you. There is a simple way to avoid this situation, but many people put if off for various reasons. What is it? A living will. A living will is your written declaration which clearly states your wishes regarding the treatments you want or do not want in the event of a terminal i... more...

Culture and Society » Death and Dying | By Amy Nutt @ Sunday, 20th April 2008 @ 10:53 PM

People use flowers for a number of reasons. They are sent to others when something great has happened in their life, as an expression of love, for encouragement, and also for sympathy. They are a way in which people let others know that they are thinking about them in both good times and in bad, but it is in the bad times when someone needs to know that they are supported, especially in a time of grief. Flowers for sympathy Flowers for sympathy are certainly not meant to take away ... more...

Culture and Society » Death and Dying | By Roberto Bonomi @ Thursday, 27th March 2008 @ 6:43 AM

Unfortunately the depression is today statistically one of the first causes of death And the question that immediately arises after this statement is... Hoy have we reached this point? The answer is that the civilization does not evolve equally in all its fields. Today we can find in our homes, things that where unbelievable only 100 years ago, but there are also great social inequities, with a level of information never reached before, and the fact that we can instantly kno... more...

Culture and Society » Death and Dying | By Karen Miller @ Tuesday, 18th March 2008 @ 7:27 PM

One of the most difficult cards to send to a family or friend is a sympathy card. Why? Because if you are like us, you have many mixed feeling on what is truly appropriate for the situation. But never underestimate the powerful message you convey by just sending a card at a time of grief. While many ask that donations be given in lieu of flowers, it is always appropriate to send a card to honor the departed one. If you are reluctant to send a card, just because you don't kn... more...

Culture and Society » Death and Dying | By Jack Deal @ Tuesday, 11th March 2008 @ 4:55 PM

Elma died last Friday and today we went to the funeral. There were a good number of people in the church but most of them in their eighties. Elma had a lot of friends. There were some tears and some sniffling but mostly there were smiles and warm greetings. Elma left little in terms of material possessions but she left a full story and lived a meaningful life. Elma was 97 when she died. For over 20 years Elma was our neighbor down the street. In the last years when she used a walke... more...

Culture and Society » Death and Dying | By Catherine Harvey @ Friday, 29th February 2008 @ 5:44 AM

Look into most UK laws and you will find origins dating back to Roman times. They may well have invaded our country but they bought with them many benefits, being way ahead of their times in matters of order and rights. They can be held pretty much responsible for many laws governing making a will also. Many countries had no propensity to enforce where a person's belongings went to on their death and if today's standards are anything to go by, this could have led to many family ... more...

Culture and Society » Death and Dying | By Catherine Harvey @ Thursday, 24th January 2008 @ 3:28 AM

However little you think you may have, making a will is as important as if you were wealthy. And your current state of health, however good, is not a reason for putting it off. If you have no property or savings to leave to your next of kin, would you necessarily want to leave them with your debts and problems? Of course not. There are decisions to be made regarding who will look after underage children. Who will receive any property, personal belongings or money and also who will take re... more...

Culture and Society » Death and Dying | By MIKE SELVON @ Tuesday, 22nd January 2008 @ 2:39 AM

The death of a loved one is the hardest thing you'll ever deal with in life. During and after the funeral, there seems to be an endless stream of tears, sleepless nights and sickness in the pit of your stomach. You wonder how you will ever go on without being able to touch, laugh with or talk to that person again. While a period of mourning is normal, you may find that you've lost your appetite for weeks, you find yourself listless and unable to get out of bed, you're slow... more...

Culture and Society » Death and Dying | By Jonathon Boundy @ Monday, 31st December 2007 @ 3:20 PM

When somebody we know loses a loved one, or when we ourselves encounter the pain of loss, sometimes there really are no words to express how we feel. We may find ourselves grasping for just the right thing to say, and sometimes, even when we have the best intentions at heart, we often still end up saying the wrong thing or we end up not saying anything at all. It's very hard to assuage the pain brought about by such a loss, but perhaps that's where the power of flowers can best ... more...