Best Life Best Death

Dr Ira Byock - leader in palliative care, advocate for patients, and author - joins me this week. We discuss: What might it mean to “die well”? Why is the nature of serious illness more personal than medical? What  are the “four things that matter most”? What does “forgiveness” mean? How do the phrases he writes about in The Four Things that Matter Most apply to any of us, at any time in our lives? This week’s BLBD conversation really grabbed me, because it is about dying, sure, but it is far more about living… and living with humility and kindness. For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at www.bestlifebestdeath.com Follow us on our social channels to receive pertinent and helpful resources on death, grieving, and more at: Facebook: www.facebook.com/bestlifebestdeath Instagram: www.instagram.com/bestlifebestdeath Episode

After Loss Professionals such as Rachel Donnelly play a unique role for all there is to be done after someone has died. Different from an attorney, more nuanced than an organizer, and with the know-how to do far more than just drop things off at a thrift store, Rachel can act as the ”air traffic controller” to manage the entire project of settling an estate. Whether it involves going through probate, deciding what to do with collections of unknown worth (Grandpa’s gold coins? Mom’s silver?), or filling out cumbersome out-of-state forms (transferring a car title in Minnesota?) – Black Dress Consultants can help! For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at www.bestlifebestdeath.com Follow us on our social channels to receive pertinent and helpful resources on death, grieving, and more at: Facebook: www.facebook.com/bestlifebestdeath Instagram: www.instagram.com/bestlifebestdeath Episode

The range of unique urns is as wide as the artists who are making them! This week I talk with woodworker C.C. Boyce, who developed a two-part wooden urn suitable for the cremated remains of people or pets. They come in various woods and sizes, and there is space in the bottom for cremains and space on top for a  plant. Hear how she got into this work and why one of her pieces might fit beautifully into your life. For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at www.bestlifebestdeath.com Follow us on our social channels to receive pertinent and helpful resources on death, grieving, and more at: Facebook: www.facebook.com/bestlifebestdeath Instagram: www.instagram.com/bestlifebestdeath Episode

In Part 2 of our conversation, Sam and I talk further about compassionate options at the end of life. How have various state Medical Aid In Dying laws been passed? What part do data, numbers and personal stories play in helping us to better understand the issues? Why talk to your doctor about your values and options *now*? What compassionate end-of-life choices are there for those with dementia, and how could those be put in your Advance Directive today?How do the options of ending treatment, palliative sedation, or VSED (Voluntary Stopping of Eating and Drinking) come into play? What does Compassion and Choices have to offer lay people, legislators, doctors, nurses, social workers, and more?? For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at www.bestlifebestdeath.com Follow us on our social channels to receive pertinent and helpful resources on death, grieving, and more at: Facebook: www.facebook.com/bestlifebestdeath Instagram: www.instagram.com/bestlifebestdeath Episode

This week and next, Sam and I dive and digress into several aspects of the end of life. How do we die? How did the organization Compassion & Choices come to be? What is Medical Aid in Dying? What do I need to know about Advance Directives? How do the choices that I write down now impact my future? The organization Compassion and Choices has deep roots and a wide spread of branches, offering us information on a variety of topics for our end of life journey. For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at www.bestlifebestdeath.com Follow us on our social channels to receive pertinent and helpful resources on death, grieving, and more at: Facebook: www.facebook.com/bestlifebestdeath Instagram: www.instagram.com/bestlifebestdeath Episode

This week I talk with Kayla Nakano, one of the founders of a podcast about pet loss. Kayla and I talk about these loving relationships and the complex grief that can accompany their death – which is almost always so much sooner than we would like. What helps people through the loss of a beloved animal companion? What is “normal” for this type of loss? And how can we support friends and family through this experience? For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at www.bestlifebestdeath.com Follow us on our social channels to receive pertinent and helpful resources on death, grieving, and more at: Facebook: www.facebook.com/bestlifebestdeath Instagram: www.instagram.com/bestlifebestdeath Episode

This week Kim Mooney (thanatolgist and founder of Practically Dying) and I continue our conversation about “exit ramps.” Listen to learn about: palliative sedation, voluntary stopping of eating and drinking (VSED) and Medical Aid in Dying (MAID). What do each of these terms mean? What are the laws in various states? How do these processes work? What might these choices mean - legally, medically and personally? Kim and I discuss anecdotes from personal experience as well as broader questions of culture and ethics.  For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at www.bestlifebestdeath.com Follow us on our social channels to receive pertinent and helpful resources on death, grieving, and more at: Facebook: www.facebook.com/bestlifebestdeath Instagram: www.instagram.com/bestlifebestdeath Episode

This week I talk with Kim Mooney, long-time end-of-life educator and expert in the field. If you want to hear a couple of high-energy, fast-talking women discuss how we die… you’ve come to the right place! In Part 1 this week, Kim and I get into: keeping bodies alive vs people thriving; palliative care and hospice; exit ramps at the end of life - what are the various trajectories of how we die? And how can thinking about the end of life help us and our loved ones now and as we get closer to that exit ramp?  For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at www.bestlifebestdeath.com Follow us on our social channels to receive pertinent and helpful resources on death, grieving, and more at: Facebook: www.facebook.com/bestlifebestdeath Instagram: www.instagram.com/bestlifebestdeath Episode

Rob and I discuss drugs like psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine. How are they impacting the therapeutic world and the end-of-life world? What can come from ketamine-assisted therapy? What might a few sessions of this look like? What are the origins of these plant medicines and how are doctors, therapists and the pharmaceutical industry working with them lately? Rob says that he sees people experience "really purposeful changes" from "having a few meaningful experiences.” Tune in to learn more! For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at www.bestlifebestdeath.com Follow us on our social channels to receive pertinent and helpful resources on death, grieving, and more at: Facebook: www.facebook.com/bestlifebestdeath Instagram: www.instagram.com/bestlifebestdeath

Avani Dilger's career and calling in working with addiction, trauma, connection, and the existential questions that we all seek to explore began early in her life with the deaths of two friends. I would say that nearly everyone I know has been touched by addiction, so the questions we ask in the episode are vital to all of us: What is it that people seek through addiction? Why is this such an epidemic? We often label addiction as being about substances - drugs, alcohol - but what else are we addicted to? And, most importantly, what are other ways that people can tap into the longing for what they seek? For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at www.bestlifebestdeath.com Follow us on our social channels to receive pertinent and helpful resources on death, grieving, and more at: Facebook: www.facebook.com/bestlifebestdeath Instagram: www.instagram.com/bestlifebestdeath