By Robert Firestone
Each individual faces a struggle against powerful odds to retain a unique selfhood and personal identity.
Read on www.psychalive.org
CLEAR ALL
In most modern cultures, it’s common for people to feel uneasy about death. We express this discomfort by avoiding conversations on the topic and lowering our voices when speaking of the dead and dying.
My Feb. 5 column, “A Heartfelt Appeal for a Graceful Exit,” prompted a deluge of information and requests for information on how people too sick to reap meaningful pleasure from life might be able to control their death.
Though I wince at the redundancy, funeral “pre-planning” is a phenomenon receiving increased attention, and a growing number of Web-based guides tell how to go about it. As www.funerals.org puts it: “Funeral planning starts at home.
Look more closely and you’ll see.
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Demand from patients seeking help for their mental illnesses has led to underground use in a way that parallels black markets in the AIDS pandemic. This underground use has been most perilous for people of color, who face greater stigma and legal risks due to the War on Drugs.
The fear of death and dying is quite common, and most people fear death to varying degrees. To what extent that fear occurs and what it pertains to specifically varies from one person to another.
No family is perfect! It’s far from it. All families experience some level of dysfunction. Most, however, manage pretty well despite it.
Frank Ostaseski, an internationally respected Buddhist teacher and pioneer in end-of-life care, has accompanied over 1,000 people through their dying process.
For more than 50 years, Ram Dass has watched as other nontraditional spiritual leaders have come and gone while he has remained.
Some people harbor the illusion that rest is a luxury they do not have time for, but the reality is that rest is a necessity.
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