Author Archives: Ellary Allis (Blog Writer, SevenPonds)

“If no one knows when a person is going to die, how can we say he died prematurely?”

-George Carlin
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Gillian Welch’s Neo-Traditional Hymn “I’m Not Afraid To Die”

A simple tune, a deep well of comfort

The first time I heard Gillian Welch’s achingly lovely neotraditional folk song “I’m Not Afraid To Die”, I heard it sung in harmony by my dear friend and her dying father. He was in hospice at home in Santa Fe, lying … Continue reading

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“Old people at weddings always poke me and said ‘you’re next.’ So I started doing the same thing to them at funerals.”

- Anonymous
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Ayurvedic Perspectives on Death and Dying

A hospice nurse and student of Ayurveda shares her thoughts

As a student at the California College of Ayurveda, Renee Traub wrote a paper investigating death and dying through an Ayurvedic lens. She brought to her Ayurvedic studies 28 years of experience as a neonatal ICU nurse and three of … Continue reading

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“Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life” by Eric Idle

Monty Python's Life Of Brian song Is a popular funeral tune

In 2014, the Telegraph published the findings of a study carried out by a cohort of funeral directors investigating which is the most played song at funerals in the United Kingdom. The survey, based on more than 30,000 funerals, found that … Continue reading

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“The art of losing isn’t hard to master; so many things seemed filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster”

- Elizabeth Bishop
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