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  • A Shovel Full of Earth Melitta Haslund, in “A Shovel Full of Earth.” Published in For All That Is Our Life, edited by Helen and Eugene Pickett (Skinner House, 2005). Used with permission. A few shovel fulls of earth await humbly. Dark brown as only earth can be— dug from the fragrant depths.
    December 9, 2015 | From Facing Death with Life
  • Facing Death with Life What did you like the best about the program? What would you change or improve? What readings or videos offered you new insights? Did you share any of them with other people? Is there something we didn’t cover that you would have liked to cover? What was most helpful about...
    December 9, 2015 | From Facing Death with Life
  • Make a time for individual reflection and discussion with your co-leader after the conclusion of the workshop. Consider these questions: What worked well in today's workshop? What was most challenging? At what points were participants most and least engaged? Were all voices in the group heard?...
    December 9, 2015 | From Facing Death with Life
  • Activity time: 10 minutes Invite each participant to light a candle and name the fear about death and dying they would like to let go. Share these closing words from Rumi, a 13th-century Persian poet: What do you really possess, And what have you gained in this life?...
    December 9, 2015 | From Facing Death with Life
  • Activity time: 10 minutes Distribute Handout 1, Evaluation and invite participants to complete it and turn it in.
    December 9, 2015 | From Facing Death with Life
  • Activity time: 15 minutes Ask, “Is there such a thing as a good death?” Invite a discussion, encouraging participants to share any experiences and learnings from the workshop program that have influenced their response to the question.
    December 9, 2015 | From Facing Death with Life
  • Activity time: 45 minutes Invite participants, one at a time, to share their creative expressions and the process that led to the work they are sharing. Ask participants to give each other the gift of attentive listening during each presentation. Lead the group in affirming each person after they...
    December 9, 2015 | From Facing Death with Life
  • Activity time: 35 minutes Invite participants to share insights, comments, and observations from your field trip to the funeral home, cemetery, or crematorium and record them on newsprint. If the group includes participants who did not make the field trip, invite others to fill in details. Call...
    December 9, 2015 | From Facing Death with Life
  • Activity time: 5 minutes Light the chalice and share these words from Rev. Kate Walker: With courage we turn to look, with fear and love pulling us forward, death will greet us one day. We look, but we do not welcome, not this time, not next time, we only look, with courage. Call attention to the...
    December 9, 2015 | From Facing Death with Life
  • Post Our Covenant from Workshop 1. Customize and make copies of Handouts 1 and 2 for all participants. Write on newsprint and post: What were your impressions? What was expected? What was unexpected? Did your views on death change, and if so, how? Did the visit affect your personal plans for your...
    December 9, 2015 | From Facing Death with Life
  • Chalice, candle, and lighter or LED/battery-operated candle Candle, lighter, and holder or LED/battery-operated candle for each participant Newsprint, markers, and tape Our Covenant from Workshop 1 Handout 1, Evaluation Handout 2, Final Thoughts Computer or video player, speakers, and screen...
    December 9, 2015 | From Facing Death with Life
  • And so I shall go, in time, as all Go and greet this sustaining earth with gratitude and pray I am worthy and have served Her well. — Melitta Haslund, from “A Shovel Full of Earth” This workshop invites participants to reflect on what they have learned and experienced through Facing Death with...
    December 9, 2015 | From Facing Death with Life
  • Make a time for individual reflection and discussion with your co-leader after the conclusion of the workshop. Consider these questions: What worked well in today's workshop? How can these elements or approaches be repeated or amplified in the future? What was most challenging?...
    December 9, 2015 | From Facing Death with Life
  • Activity time: 5 minutes Share these closing words from Lee Ann Wester: When the time comes, we prepare, as if for a party with close friends for care, or a class, ready to learn. But is preparation really possible? Can we ever really prepare, for death? For life?...
    December 9, 2015 | From Facing Death with Life
  • Activity time: 10 minutes Share with participants details about your field trip to a funeral home, a cemetery, or a crematorium. Distribute Handout 1, Looking Ahead to Workshop 8 and remind them about the artistic expression for next time. Tell them that they will not be sharing their advance...
    December 9, 2015 | From Facing Death with Life
  • Activity time: 30 minutes Invite participants to form groups of three and, as they are comfortable doing so, to share the obituaries and epitaphs they have written prior to the workshop. Allow 15 minutes for this part of the activity. Then regather the large group and engage participants in a...
    December 9, 2015 | From Facing Death with Life
  • Activity time: 20 minutes Distribute copies of Five Wishes booklets or your state’s advance directives or both. Invite participants to look at the booklet or document and begin to fill it out....
    December 9, 2015 | From Facing Death with Life
  • Activity time: 20 minutes Show the segment from "Being Mortal" (17:13-23:36). Ask participants to reflect on any experiences with end-of-life decisions for a loved one. Then call attention to color pencils, markers, pens, and pencils....
    December 9, 2015 | From Facing Death with Life
  • Activity time: 30 minutes Welcome the medical professional you have invited, and ask them to explain end-of-life medical interventions, palliative care, hospice care, and choices that a person or family might have to make. Allow time for participants to ask questions.
    December 9, 2015 | From Facing Death with Life
  • Activity time: 5 minutes Light the chalice and share these words from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, 20 (NRSV): For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a tim...
    December 9, 2015 | From Facing Death with Life