Estate Sales are a Big Job

I would not attempt a home sale without the help of a Realtor®. Similarly, don’t try to do an estate sale without the help of a professional. I recently had to clear out my parents’ home here in Albuquerque. As a Baby Boomer facing a lifetime of photographs, paperwork, furniture and memorabilia, I found this a daunting challenge.

To help you understand the issues involved, I recorded this 12-minute interview, Karen Hyatt with Estate Pros. We talk about how they can assist descendants (the people who are left to deal with the deceased’s things). Estate Pros works with families, attorneys and bankers charged with handling estates. She covers topics like doing an inventory of the estate, finding paperwork, sorting and digitizing photos, passing along family heirlooms, and how long it can take to fully process an estate and its contents.

My Family’s Estate Story

My parents used to split their time between Florida and New Mexico, but the pandemic put a stop to that. As they have aged, we found they needed more care than my brother who lived with them could provide. Now they are in a very nice assisted-living facility in Florida.

They are not coming back to New Mexico. There’s no need for them to keep this house. My older brother and I were tasked with the estate sale and the sale of the house. Note: you don’t have to be dead to have an estate sale! If you are making a major change, it’s a great way to lose the load of stuff that accumulates throughout our lives and make some money in the process.

Here are some tips from our experiences:

Tackle the Photos and Papers

We hired a wonderful estate sale company to handle the sale of the household goods. However, before the estate sale, the family had to clear out the personal papers and photographs. My parents had an enormous number of pictures, in boxes, albums, and frames.

My father saved the files for every real estate transaction he’d conducted since 1959. We decided to save just the ones from the last 10 years. There were medical files, files on each child, files for vehicles that had been sold years before. I was able to reduce three filing cabinets of paper into five bankers’ boxes.

Remember to shred sensitive documents with identifying information, social security numbers, account numbers, and passwords.

Let’s talk about photos. We boxed up an entire wall of family photos, nicknamed “The Wall of Rubin,” and sent them to my youngest brother to recreate at his house. I’m thankful he will care for this photo collection.

We found boxes and boxes of old pictures. It’s so important to label pictures with dates and names. You may think you will never forget this information, but you will. There’s an ancient Chinese proverb that says, “The palest ink is more reliable than the most vivid memory.”

At one point, we became overwhelmed and just transported boxes of photos to my house to sort through later.

Save Historical Records

One challenge I faced was what to do with Mom and Dad’s yearbooks from 1949 to 1953. One brilliant suggestion from an expert was to approach the university’s alumni association and ask if they would like to have them. They were delighted to receive the yearbooks for posterity. The history they hold will now be preserved at their alma mater.

You could also find homes for other items, such as scrapbooks, old textbooks (depending on the content and age), and old memorabilia.

Work with Professionals

We used Five Star Estate Sales to handle the the actual selling of the furniture, household goods, artwork, clothing and other items. Mary MacGyver and her team did an amazing job of cleaning, sorting, pricing, setting up, running the sale, and breaking down. Best of all, they told us to stay away during the sale. It’s emotionally-wrenching to watch people pick through a lifetime of beloved objects. In the end, we need to let go.

It’s a good idea to get quotes from more than one estate sale company. The company makes their money through a percentage of the sales total. They more the customer makes, the more they make. The percentages generally range from 30% to 50%. Also, plan ahead. Many estate sale outfits are booked out for weeks or months.

Bear in mind, the funeral is not the end, it’s the beginning of the end. It starts before somebody dies with the downsizing the estate. Think about that for your own household, for your parents’ home(s), or for your other loved ones.

About Gail Rubin, CT

Do you really need a fancy sombrero if you’re not in a mariachi band? Gail Rubin donated hers to a local restaurant and got a free desert flan!

Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist and The Doyenne of Death®, is a pioneering death educator. She uses humor, funny film clips, and outside-the-box activities to teach about planning ahead for end-of-life. She coordinates the award-winning Before I Die New Mexico Festival, and Albuquerque Business First recognized her with their 2019 Women of Influence Award.

She’s also the author of three books on end-of-life issues, including KICKING THE BUCKET LIST: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die. Her website is www.AGoodGoodbye.com.

The post Baby Boomers Have to Deal with Parents’ Estates first appeared on A Good Goodbye.

Cholla cactus in Historic Fairview Cemetery.

On Saturday, April 3, you have the opportunity to help transplant native cholla cactus in Historic Fairview Cemetery. There are several spots along the cemetery walls where trespassers are tearing down blocks to more easily climb over. Planting prickly cholla at these spots will help discourage this activity and, we hope, improve security at the cemetery.

This is part of the regular first Saturday volunteer clean up. Sign up on the Historic Fairview Cemetery Facebook Page.

If you’d like to participate in the Cholla Challenge, bring a shovel, wheelbarrow, lopper, and long tongs. Cholla can be transplanted by cutting branches and planting them in the soil. We need to use tools and great care to prevent getting stuck by its thorns.

You can focus on clean up activities if you prefer. Gardening/weeding is great exercise, with built-in social distancing. Help clean up Historic Fairview Cemetery and learn a bit of local history in the process!

Wear sunscreen, a face mask, a hat, long sleeves and sturdy shoes. Bring work gloves and tools such as a weed whacker, hoe, rake, and garden clippers if you have them. Water and trash bags will be provided. We will start at 9:00 a.m. Access the entrance to the historic section inside Fairview Memorial Park.

Historic Fairview Cemetery is located at 700 Yale Blvd. SE, Albuquerque, NM. Enter through the gates of Fairview Memorial Park, near the intersection with Avenida Cesar Chavez. Proceed east to the cemetery office, turn left and continue north into the historic cemetery area.

Historic Fairview Cemetery is maintained by a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization. Its mission is to preserve the cemetery and share the history of Albuquerque and New Mexico through the lives of the people buried there. Gail Rubin is the President, and she welcomes people to get involved as Directors on the Board. If you would like to learn more, send an email to Gail [at] agoodgoodbye.com.

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Gail Rubin, The Doyenne of Death®, was recently saluted as a Remarkable Woman by the local CBS/FOX/CW stations in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Remarkable Women is part of a nationwide Nexstar Media initiative to honor the influence that women have had on public policy, social progress and the quality of life.

Gail’s husband nominated her, writing in his essay, “My wife Gail Rubin is a Remarkable Woman in so many ways. She is a pioneering death educator, author, speaker, event coordinator, and Death Café host. She helps people talk about planning ahead for end-of-life issues using a light touch on what many consider a dark topic. During this coronavirus pandemic, with so much illness and death, she is making a difference by inspiring people to overcome their fears to plan ahead for our 100% mortality rate.”

Watch Gail Rubin’s interview:

• She’s a Certified Thanatologist, a person who studies and teaches about death, dying and bereavement. She teaches in a number of ways: in person, online, and on television and YouTube.
• TEDxABQ speaker in 2015 – Her talk, A Good Goodbye, inspires people to think about, talk about, and do something about our eventual guaranteed demise.
• Community involvement with Congregation Albert synagogue’s cemetery committee and the Chevrah Kaddisha, trained Jewish volunteers who wash and dress the deceased in the ritual manner for burial.
• She’s president of the nonprofit organization that supports Historic Fairview Cemetery. She’s leading efforts to make the cemetery an outdoor history museum and xeriscape garden. The cemetery is the final resting place of approximately 12,000 individuals who have impacted the development of Albuquerque and New Mexico, and she’s helping to tell their stories.
• Albuquerque Business First recognized her with their 2019 Women of Influence Award.
• She’s written three award-winning books on planning ahead for death: A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die; Hail and Farewell: Cremation Ceremonies, Templates and Tips; and Kicking the Bucket List: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die.
• She was one of the first people to host a Death Café in the United States in 2012. The Death Café has since developed into a worldwide movement with 12,000 events in 74 countries to date.
• She’s also a pioneer of the Before I Die Festival movement in the United States. She held her first festival in 2017 in Albuquerque, grew it to multiple towns in New Mexico, and won a prestigious funeral industry award for the 2018 Before I Die New Mexico Festival. In 2020, she pivoted to offer the Festival as a pandemic-safe online experience.

Read more about Gail Rubin as a Remarkable Woman here.

About Nexstar’s Remarkable Women Award

KRQE Media Group is recognizing the great contributions women have made to our nation and local communities. Throughout Women’s History Month, KRQE Media Group is highlighting four local women who inspire, lead and forge the way for other women. It’s not just about one day or one month — it’s about what they do, day-in and day-out.

One woman will be named New Mexico’s Woman of the Year and win a $1,000 donation to her charity of choice. From the more than 100 local winners, one woman will be selected and named Nexstar Media Group’s Woman of the Year.

Learn more about Gail Rubin as a speaker here.

The post Local TV Station Salutes Gail Rubin as a Remarkable Woman first appeared on A Good Goodbye.

Death Cartoon

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a Death Cartoon! Here’s a recent Bizarro take on coroners work. It’s not a CSI episode.

The post Death Cartoon: Coroner’s Final Exam first appeared on A Good Goodbye.

Join the Conversation in the Next Death Cafe!

The Blue Screen of Death by Richard Thompson

The next Albuquerque Death Cafe will take place ONLINE on Sunday, March 21, 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time. Due to self-distancing imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, we will meet through Zoom. RSVP to Gail [at] AGoodGoodbye.com to receive the link for the meeting.

The objective of the Death Cafe is “to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives.” It’s an interesting, unstructured conversation with no specific agenda. The Death Cafe offers a relaxed, confidential and safe setting to discuss death. We drink tea (or your favorite beverage) and eat delicious cake or cookies.

Please provide your own refreshments. Have a cup of tea or coffee and a cookie or other snack handy.

The Death Cafe concept was started in the United Kingdom by Jon Underwood. He was influenced by the ideas of Swiss sociologist Bernard Crettaz, who started holding Cafe Mortel events in France and Switzerland. Albuquerque was the first city in the U.S. west of the Mississippi to hold a Death Cafe. Gail Rubin hosted it in September, 2012.

For more information about Death Cafes, visit this page at AGoodGoodbye.com or visit www.DeathCafe.com. Join the Albuquerque Death Cafe Meetup group to be kept apprised of upcoming events. Click here to go to the Meetup page.

Your Death Cafe Host

Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist, hosts the Albuquerque Death Cafe. She is a pioneering death educator. Rubin is a public speaker, a published author of three books, host of a TV interview series and podcast, a blogger, a funeral industry trade journalist, a Certified Funeral Celebrant, and an innovator in the funeral business. She created a conversation-starting game called The Newly-Dead Game®, introduced the Death Café movement in the United States, and held the first Before I Die Festival west of the Mississippi in 2017. Albuquerque Business First named her one of their 2019 Women of Influence.

The post March 21: Online Death Cafe first appeared on A Good Goodbye.

Volunteers to Clean Up Historic Fairview Cemetery

Want to volunteer your time to make a difference in your community? Historic Fairview Cemetery, established in Albuquerque, NM in 1881, is maintained by a local nonprofit organization. On Saturday morning, March 6, starting at 10:00 a.m., volunteers will help clean up a section of the cemetery by weeding and picking up trash.

Gardening/weeding is great exercise, with built-in social distancing! Wear sunscreen, a hat, long sleeves and sturdy shoes. Bring work gloves and tools such as a weed whacker, hoe, and garden clippers if you have them. Water and trash bags will be provided. You can learn some history of Albuquerque in the process.

A Little History

As more people came to Albuquerque at the turn of the 20th century, either to start a new life or to find the cure at a Tuberculosis Sanitorium, more area for burials was needed. The old part of the cemetery seems to have developed in a “little here and a little there,” not in a planned manner. During the early 1900’s, many who had come to Albuquerque for its sunshine and fresh air did not make it and ultimately died from TB. The records show grave after grave listing this devastating disease as the cause of death. Many of those who died were poor and buried in pauper graves right next to those who were the known in society as wealthy socialites, merchants, governors, Buffalo soldiers, as well many who served our country in the military. TB and death showed no mercy; making it a sad time for all stricken by this disease. (Thanks to historian Susan Schwartz.)

Please let us know if you’ll come out. “Like” the Historic Fairview Cemetery Facebook Page and sign up at this event page!

Questions? Contact Gail Rubin through this page.

New Developments

Boy Scout Dillon Byrd has made putting up road signs within Historic Fairview Cemetery his Eagle Scout project. He approached our nonprofit organization proposing to install permanent street signs in the cemetery. He will raise the funds for the signs, have metal street signs made, and install the signs on poles set in concrete throughout the cemetery. Here is a map of the cemetery, with the new road names indicated.

The post March 6: Historic Fairview Cemetery Volunteer Clean Up first appeared on A Good Goodbye.

Join the Conversation in the Next Death Cafe!

The Blue Screen of Death by Richard Thompson

The next Albuquerque Death Cafe will take place ONLINE on Sunday, February 21, 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. Mountain Standard Time. Due to self-distancing imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, we will meet through Zoom. RSVP to Gail [at] AGoodGoodbye.com to receive the link for the meeting.

The objective of the Death Cafe is “to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives.” It’s an interesting, unstructured conversation with no specific agenda. The Death Cafe offers a relaxed, confidential and safe setting to discuss death. We drink tea (or your favorite beverage) and eat delicious cake or cookies.

Please provide your own refreshments. Have a cup of tea or coffee and a cookie or other snack handy.

The Death Cafe concept was started in the United Kingdom by Jon Underwood. He was influenced by the ideas of Swiss sociologist Bernard Crettaz, who started holding Cafe Mortel events in France and Switzerland. Albuquerque was the first city in the U.S. west of the Mississippi to hold a Death Cafe. Gail Rubin hosted it in September, 2012.

For more information about Death Cafes, visit this page at AGoodGoodbye.com or visit www.DeathCafe.com. Join the Albuquerque Death Cafe Meetup group to be kept apprised of upcoming events. Click here to go to the Meetup page.

Your Death Cafe Host

Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist, hosts the Albuquerque Death Cafe. She is a pioneering death educator. Rubin is a public speaker, a published author of three books, host of a TV interview series and podcast, a blogger, a funeral industry trade journalist, a Certified Funeral Celebrant, and an innovator in the funeral business. She created a conversation-starting game called The Newly-Dead Game®, introduced the Death Café movement in the United States, and held the first Before I Die Festival west of the Mississippi in 2017. Albuquerque Business First named her one of their 2019 Women of Influence.

The post February 21: Online Death Cafe first appeared on A Good Goodbye.

Children and grief: helping kids understand death and grieving is a challenge around the world. The new book, What Now?, written and illustrated by Tim Mostert, can help fill the gap in educational materials about death and mourning.

Tim Mostert is known in South Africa as a cartoonist who created Speedy, an incredibly popular comic strip character in the country’s leading newspaper, The Daily Sun. Speedy is also featured in a TV series, educational books for children, and licensed merchandise. Mostert also authored and illustrated a series of children’s books about the life of Nelson Mandela, the Know Your Nation book about South Africa, and his latest, What Now? When someone you love has died.

He was interviewed by death educator Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist and The Doyenne of Death®, as part of her YouTube video interview series, Books to Die For.

What Now? is a children’s book about grief, correct?

Mostert: It was conceptualized as a book of how to explain death and grief to a child, and it is for children, but it’s actually for everyone. If you know how learning and content works, we prefer to have simple information, told in a very easy-to-understand way.

Why did you write this book?

Tim Mostert, author and illustrator of What Now?

I was approached by a South African funeral company. I’m a cartoonist, and my whole life of cartooning is mainly about jokes and gags and making people laugh. And they said one of the needs we have in the funeral industry is communicating to children about loss and about grief.

Unfortunately, in many cultures when someone dies, the children are left behind. They fall through the cracks. No one sits them down and explains what happened, why it happened and what they’re going through. This is a universal problem. So, what they were asking me to do was to come up with a book to explain death to a child.

I thought, “I can’t do anything like that. I just write jokes.” But then I started thinking about it, and I thought, “That’s actually a really good idea. That’s something I think is needed.”

I don’t have a lot of experience with death. My father’s still alive. Most of my siblings are alive. But my mom passed away four years ago. That’s a huge loss when you lose your mother, because no one loves you as much as your mom does.

I thought, well, let me see if I can write this. I had written a lot of these short books. I could try and do a similar format where I don’t use a lot of words, but I use the right words. They say writing is easy. It’s just the right words in the right order, which is crazy, because writing is very, very difficult.

Did the funeral home company give you any information?

There was nothing. They made the suggestion then I never heard from them again. So, I went to that place of loss. And I just thought, what goes through your mind? What do you feel? What’s the tone?

When you write comedy and cartoons, you’re actually writing about tone. Jokes are emotional. Grief is emotional. It’s just a lateral move. So, with this book, I just went to that place of grief when my mom passed away and I started to write about what I went through.

I thought, if I was explaining this to a little person who just lost someone, who was feeling very confused and didn’t know what was going on, what would I say? More than that, what would I say that would help this little five-year-old brain to start to process?

You know, the best thing that happens when someone passes away is that someone comes and just cries with you. They just sit with you. And you feel their presence. You don’t want explanations. You don’t want comparisons. You don’t want to know what they’ve gone through. You just want that physical presence.

And the most powerful thing is when they cry with you. Why are tears so cathartic? Why when you cry, it’s so healing? Why if you don’t cry, is it so negative? People can have a physical reaction because they hold in all of this grief.

The book has one cartoon character throughout.

It has a generic cartoon character. The character could be black, white, mixed race, could be male, could be female. That was very deliberate, to try and have a character that was kind of generic. I’m also doing an Asian version.

How do you see the book being used?

I’ve spoken to principals of schools and teachers, and every one of them has said, “We need this book in our schools and classrooms and for our counselors.” One principal even said to me, “My dad died when I was 11. I wish I had this book.”

I’ve also spoken to people who are involved in grief counseling and they said, “This is ideal.” There’s a whole group of hospice companies here in South Africa that want the book as well.

This book is part of healing. It’s like a healing balm, it doesn’t it doesn’t fix anything, it doesn’t explain away what you’re going through, but it helps you cope, a little bit. The main comment I’ve gotten from people who’ve read the book is that they like the fact that it keeps telling you what you’re feeling is okay.

Any last thoughts about What Now?

I hope that it helps people deal with losing a loved one, when you’re in the rawest stage of grief. That’s a place we don’t want to be, but we end up being there from time to time in our lives. I hope it helps to soothe some of the pain we feel when we lose someone, because that’s the worst feeling in the world.

What Now? is available on Amazon through this affiliate link.

The post Children and Grief: Video Interview with Tim Mostert first appeared on A Good Goodbye.

Virtual Event: Tales from Historic Fairview Cemetery

Historic Fairview Cemetery at 700 Yale Blvd SE in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was founded in 1881. It has approximately 12,000 permanent residents. Yet, only about 6,000 of the graves have markers. It’s the final resting place for both the famous and the unknown. There are military graves for Buffalo Soldiers and Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, notable politicians, business leaders, and unknown individuals who still have fascinating stories.

Gail Rubin, CT, president of the nonprofit Historic Fairview Cemetery organization, will introduce you to some of these stories in a free online presentation on Wednesday, February 17 at 10:30 a.m. The JCC is hosting a virtual coffee event where she will talk about additional notable people, including pioneer Jews who are buried in the Congregation Albert historic section. They include business people and merchants with well-known names such as Ilfeld, Bibo, Rosenwald and Nordhaus. Click here to register for this webinar. You can also email mayas@jccabq.org for more information.

About Gail Rubin

Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist and The Doyenne of Death®, is a death educator who uses humor, film clips, and outside-the-box activities to help people plan ahead for our 100% mortality rate. She’s the author of three award-winning books on planning ahead for end-of-life issues (A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die, Hail and Farewell: Cremation Ceremonies, Templates and Tips, and Kicking the Bucket List: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die), creator of The Newly-Dead Game and The Family Plot File, and an informed advocate for planning ahead.

A member of Congregation Albert’s Cemetery Committee since 2010, Gail has experience with historic cemeteries. This Jewish cemetery, adjacent to Historic Fairview Cemetery, was originally founded by B’nai Brith in 1897 with the involvement of Albuquerque’s first mayor, Henry N. Jaffa. Jaffa was also the first president of Congregation Albert, founded in 1897 and the oldest continuing Jewish organization in New Mexico.

Gail became president of Historic Fairview Cemetery in March of 2020. The nonprofit organization is charged with maintaining the grounds and educating the public about the history of Albuquerque as told by the cemetery’s permanent residents. She has organized monthly volunteer clean up days, created signage for the cemetery, generated news coverage, and worked with cemetery historian Susan Schwartz to create self-guided cemetery tour information. The nonprofit is also working on making the cemetery a xeriscape demonstration garden.

Gail is coordinator of the annual Before I Die New Mexico Festival, which donates a portion of sponsorship proceeds and ticket sales to support Historic Fairview Cemetery. She’s also a TEDx speaker, and a winner of the 2019 Women of Influence Award from Albuquerque Business First.

Volunteer Cemetery Clean Up February 6

Help clean up Historic Fairview Cemetery and learn a bit of local history in the process! Gardening/weeding is great exercise, with built-in social distancing. Wear sunscreen, a face mask, a hat, long sleeves and sturdy shoes. Bring work gloves and tools such as a weed whacker, hoe, and garden clippers if you have them. Water and trash bags will be provided.

We will start at 10:00 a.m. at the Historic Cemetery entrance inside Fairview Memorial Park, 700 Yale Blvd. SE. Enter through the gates of Fairview Memorial Park, near the intersection with Avenida Cesar Chavez. Proceed east to the cemetery office, turn left and continue north into historic cemetery area.

Another Online Presentation

Did you miss the “Tales from Albuquerque’s Historic Fairview Cemetery” presentation to the Albuquerque Historical Society? Well, you’re in luck, because it lives on online! Click this link to see the hour-long presentation that reveals information about the cemetery’s history and notable people buried there.

The post February 17: Tales from Albuquerque’s Historic Fairview Cemetery first appeared on A Good Goodbye.

In this “Books to Die For” interview, Dr. Jeff Spiess, author of the book Dying with Ease: A Compassionate Guide for Making Wiser End-of-Life Decisions, talks with Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist and The Doyenne of Death.

Among the topics discussed:

• The history of hospice
• Autonomy cases related to end-of-life: Karen Ann Quinlan and Terri Schiavo
• A though experiment on what it’s like to die and understanding loss
• Medical aid-in-dying and suffering
• Finding meaning in life and death

Jeff Spiess, MD, spent his medical career caring for those facing serious illness and death, first as an oncologist in the 1980s, then as a hospice physician. He has been recognized as a leader in his field. He is “mostly” retired as associate director of Hospice of the Western Reserve in the Cleveland area.

“I got into the field because of science and fascination with the disease processes. I stayed in the field because of cancer patients,” said Dr. Spiess. “Getting to know and learning from these people who were going through life-threatening, horrible diseases, I learned so much from them. For me, taking care of cancer patients meant taking care of them until the end.”

Watch the Video Interview

Interview Highlights

Why he wrote the book: “I’m convinced that one of the big reasons we don’t die well in this country is that we don’t recognize that we are mortal. I think the docs are probably worse than a lot of other people…. If we recognized that we were mortal, that we were going to die — that the most common cause of death is being alive — that we would make better choices, not only for planning the end of our lives, which is vital, but also that that can inform the rest of our lives. One thing the dying taught me was that learning how to die was teaching them how to live, and they were sad that they were only learning this just then.”

On medical aid-in-dying: “When when this became an issue, I was against it. I thought this is not what medicine is about. Now, I’m absolutely convinced that this needs to be available as an option for some people. I think the Oregon experience of over 20 years has shown that all the worries about slippery slopes, about somebody deciding that grandma’s not worth keeping around anymore, Death Panels that got talked about X years ago, is not happening. It’s a well designed program, it respects people being able to live their lives the way they want to. One thing that’s fascinating to me about the medical aid-in-dying issue is the number of people who get the prescription, but don’t use it, because they know that, “Okay if I have to, I can do it.” And that is tremendous autonomy.

Takeaway message about death: “Plan for it. Get as much done ahead of time as you can…. Having the real conversations with your family or your decision maker gets you in touch with that emotional level, and then pay attention to that emotional level. And work with it. It’s not scary. Well, it’s scary before you start. But once you’re doing it, you find out, “Yeah, this is stuff I didn’t want to think about,” but it’s all about who we are as human beings.”

More Information

Learn more about Dr. Spiess, upcoming events and the book at www.DrJeffSpiess.com. The book is available on Amazon (affiliate link): http://bit.ly/DyingWithEase. You can also peruse other products and books about end-of-life issues in the A Good Goodbye “Stuff to Die For” Online Store.

The post Video: Dying with Ease Interview with Dr. Jeff Spiess first appeared on A Good Goodbye.