WELCOME TO OUR BLOG
Welcome to the SevenPonds.com blog – a community-driven extension of SevenPonds.com! I hope you find comfort and community in the resources and stories featured here. I’m always happy to hear from readers and can be reached at suzette@sevenponds.com.
FEATURED
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Final Messages of the Dying: Finding meaning in metaphors and symbolic language -
Will I Die in Pain?: For patients living with a terminal illness, the fear of pain is very real -
When A Child Has A Terminal Illness: Reflections on a short, full life, part two
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Categories
Tag Archives: Dying
“Septimus” by Rachel Wetzsteon
A personal look at a poem considering the tragedy and beauty that accompany both life and death
So often we are conditioned to think of death as something tragic. And, undoubtedly, losing someone is heartbreaking. It shakes your entire world. It changes the way you move through your day to day. I had been, for many years, the … Continue reading
Posted in The Next Chapter
Tagged Beauty, Death, Death in Poetry, Death Poetry, Dying, Hope, Hopeful, Joy, Poem, Poetry, Rachel Wetzsteon, Silver Roses, Writing
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The Return of the Shrouding Women
Women are reclaiming jobs as funeral directors – a death-care profession dominated by men for over a century
Once death care was viewed as a woman’s job. The shrouding women washed the body of the deceased, anointed it with herbs, dressed and prepared it for a funeral or a wake. Women helped bring life into this world and … Continue reading
Posted in Something Special
Tagged Caregiving, Cremation, Death, Death and Dying, Dying, Empathy, End-of-life care, Funeral, Funeral Directors, Grief, Women Funeral Professionals
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Light Passing Through
Amy Friend's photographs materialize the transience of light and being
Amy Friend’s photographic series “Dara Alla Luce” whispers ephemeral. Orbs of light give form to lines of the body, subjects whose physiology has long been returned to the dirt of the earth. Dara alla luce is Italian, translated as “to bring to the light.” We … Continue reading
Posted in Soulful Expressions
Tagged Amy Friend, Art, California Sunday Magazine, Death, Dying, Light and Being, Orbs, Photo Art, photography, Soulful Expressions
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Last Rites: A Catholic Send-Off
A look at the religion's final prayer procession for the dying
Catholicism has never been number-shy in its teachings. Confess a sin? Ten Hail Marys. Looking to convert? Get ready for a slew of Sunday or Bible school classes, then 1. Baptism, 2. Confirmation, and 3. First Communion. If your list … Continue reading
Posted in Cultural Perspectives
Tagged Anointing of the Sick, Catholic, Catholic Church, Catholicism, Death, Dying, end-of-life, Faith, God, Last Rites, Peace, Prayer, Religion
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A Few More Days of Purpose
After a career in nursing, Martha Keochareon spent her last days teaching nursing students how to care for cancer patients in palliative treatment
Sometimes people donate their bodies to science after death, but Martha Keochareon had offered herself as an instructional tool during her last two months of life. In November of 2013, Ms. Keochareon called Kelly Keane, a counselor at Holyoke Community College … Continue reading
Posted in Something Special
Tagged Dying, Holyoke Community College, Hospice, Hospice Care, intent, Martha Keochareon, Nursing students, Palliative treatment, Pancreatic cancer, Patient, purpose, The End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium, The New York Times, therapeutic communication, tranquility, tumor
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Easing into the End of Life
Where does the US stand on the subject of death, dying and comprehensive end of life care?
People like to know what’s ahead. Yet, life is unpredictable. Perhaps one of the reasons death, something natural and something we all share, is still tainted with fear. How do you plan and prepare for an experience filled with uncertainty? … Continue reading
