A Confluence Of Sacred Intentions

Even before the pod begins, we're so deeply moved and honored to be part of this space which is holding so many sacred intentions together. Intentions to heal, to serve, to grow in wisdom, to embrace death, to embrace life.

The universality of death (and life), has brought us together to reflect, learn and grow together, from different ages and stages in life. Our collective is blessed by those who have recently lost a loved one, those who are in the last stages of their own life, those who are young but been deeply meditating on this question, and also many who have years and decades of experience serving the dying. 

On that note, here is a collage of some prayerful notes from the applications from 15 countries  -- 

Holding Grief...

• I lost my mom six months ago. It's painful and I want to reflect upon and grow through the grief process. I am excited to go through the process with others, in an intentional community... which is the safest, most sacred way to do grief. I can be alone in my grief but with others.
  
  
• I lost both parents to cancer within 10 days of each other, almost 30 years ago. They would have been 60 and 61 at their next birthday. I have now passed this age, but have yet to get past their loss. I hope this Pod can help, and that I inturn can help others also.
  
  
• I have experienced death and dying with my beloved husband last year. It has been an amazing experience as much as a painful one. I have developed new understanding about death, but still suffer from the old social-cultural constructions of death. I need more inner clarity. I thought about registering the pod several times. I hesitated due to fear. My fear of talking about it and exposing myself to different ideas about death which is a bleeding wound of my soul. I see my fear, and I decided to give myself to serendipity.
  
  
• My son Jake passed by suicide 4/20/15. Grief /pain/trauma yields love, wisdom and compassion. Experienced meditator. Nourished by meaningful conversations & death /life awareness practices.
  
  
• I have experienced death of my father last summer and my brother a week ago and it has moved my awareness of death and y own mortality in ways that I would like to explore.
  
  
• I lost my sister to suicide November 9, 2021. There have been more deaths and losses in my family over the last 3 years. All too compounded and I'm immersed into searching for deeper meaning in my life. 

Accepting the inevitable...

• My father is 88. My brother is 57, severely disabled, and my mother is 82. I want to be prepared for their inevitable deaths.
  
  
• Death and dying have been a central theme of alternating worry and curiosity since I was 4. I worried for the loss of my parents, grandparents.. and that shaped my personality deeply. Over the years, I have cultivated a connection with a larger context of Consciousness that continues on as we emerge and dissolve as its expression. My main source of understanding has been the Gita. However, I am fascinated with death (and life :) ), and would love to hear others' reflections and understandings on the topic. Thank you for this wonderful service.
  
  
• At 47--with a newly adolescent child, a young child, a father in his 80's, and a mother who died when I was 24--I am facing transitions of aging and reckoning with mortality in new ways. I am feeling deeper connections with both loss and life right now. I want to explore these things with like-minded people and make new meaning of death and loss as a middle-aged adult.
  
  
• The topic of death is so heavy no matter how one looks at it. A thought I have about it is, "We are all in this life together; none of us is coming out of it alive." It is both a morbid and comforting thought and I like to think of death as the thing that I have in common with every single person that I encounter in life. It would be a great privilege to be a listener and a sharer of thoughts around this subject with others who are committed to doing the same.
  
  
• I realised several years ago that I had serious death anxiety and it was causing health and relationship issues. This realisation set me on a journey of living with joy and ease. I am still finding my way, and I hope this pod will help unlock something on this path. I’ve always been known for being ‘dark’ and having a dark sense of humour, but I don’t feel confident speaking about death. I would love to join this weeklong inquiry and reflection about death and dying to help clarify my thoughts and how I express them. My husband is a great fear of death and I see how much it affects him. I know I can’t change how he thinks but I want to be more confident in my relationship with death so that our son does not grow up with such crippling fear. I have been looking to my ancestors for guidance and last year started celebrating ‘Dia de los Difuntos’ (similar to Day of the Dead traditions) and visited deceased loved ones graves, cleaned them up, had a chat and made little bread figures traditionally eaten on the day. I felt such joy in doing this and honouring and remembering our loved ones and I felt closer to them than ever before. I also got my 1 year old son involved with our tradition and this will be something I do every year. I noticed since the celebration, I am much more comfortable talking about dreams where I’ve been with my deceased grandmother or father. I feel grateful rather than sad about the dreams.

• Dying is such a taboo topic. I would like to reflect more on this topic please.

Serving the dying...

• I work with Senior Citizens who are suffering from isolation and death caused by the pandemic and the course of life.
  
  
• I have been part of a death cafe group for a few years and we always like to hear what other people are saying.
  
  
• As a practicing Buddhist for 25 years, I have found that daily reflection/meditation on impermanence and death are key to living a fully engaged life. I am also the co-founder of an organization that provides spiritual and psychological support to community members at the end of life.
  
  
• I am a birth and end of life midwife who has served various communities, internationally, on a grassroots one-on-one level. I would like to grow in this area in community with others. Thank you.
  
  
• I have worked in and around hospice and dying for quite some time as a healing-centered composer and artistic director. I started an intergenerational program writing music with people who are dying and have had my own dying experience. That being said, as a community artist and educator I feel these are times calling forth even greater capacity and connection around life and death. It would be an honor for me to be with you and others doing this work. Thank you for what you are doing. It feels so pure hearted to me, nothing fancy, and I really appreciate that!

Embracing the Grace...

• Grief is an expression of love that I want to understand better.
  
  
• These stories help me come to terms with the fragility of everything around me and from that aspect, I'd like to delve deeper , build resilience, live each moment meaningfully and not hold on.
  
  
• To get rid of the fear of unknown.
  
  
• I would like to explore awareness and acceptance of death so that I can deepen my compassion and live more fully.

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We feel very grateful to be part of this sacred collective, and look forward to the guidance, wisdom, light and love which emerges from our community. 

In service, 

Living Dying Pod Volunteers