You know those experiences you have that just make you happy remembering them, like a great birthday party or a fabulous meal with friends...when your heart, soul and body get that deeply satisfied, good feeling? Well that’s how I would describe my time with Dr. Karen Wyatt, MD...hospice caregiver and a diamond mine of wisdom on how to live abundantly.

Author of “What Really Matters: 7 Lessons for Living from the Stories of the Dying,” Karen is a family physician who invested her 25 year medical career working with patients in challenging settings, such as hospices, nursing homes and indigent clinics. She is the founder of a free medical clinic in a homeless shelter and of  Creative Healing LLC ~ an initiative to integrate spirituality into traditional medical practice. In addition to being a prolific author, Karen has testified twice at Senate briefings on cutting edge models of integrated medical care.

Karen’s beautiful, compassionate heart really shines out brilliantly in this interview, which I have put into two parts so you won’t miss a single delicious drop. In Part One, she shares precious insights she has learned from being present for hundreds of deaths, and you’ll be amazed at how they have affected her soul. I’m sure it will affect you too...in the best of ways. Please join me for Part 1 of my interview with Dr. Karen Wyatt, MD.

Punk Professor. Space pirate. Design rebel. Noah Scalin is not your ordinary guy ~ he might not even sleep! He teaches design at the Virginia Commonwealth University, runs a socially conscious design firm called Another Limited Rebellion, and has just launched a kickstarter campaign for a new book of skulls that you’ll want to hear all about. We had so much to talk about that this show is just part one of a two part interview.

Noah’s work can be seen in many publications including USA Today, Wired and The New York Times. His art has been exhibited at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia, the Museum of Death in Hollywood, The International Museum of Surgical Sciences in Chicago, and the Museum of World Culture in Gothenberg, Sweden. He gets around. Noah has written a series of books on creativity, made skulls with Martha Stewart on her TV show, and even found time to meet me in his Richmond studio. We had so much to talk about that this show is just part one of a two part interview.

You care about the earth in life ~ but what about in death? Will your final act be kind to the planet and to those you leave behind? Learn what a truly green funeral is, what is myth and what is truth, the trends and the obstacles in this interview with Jeff Jorgenson of Elemental NW ~ Seattle's first and only all green funeral home.

In one of those unexpected twists of fate that life tosses our way, Jeff found himself with a newly minted degree in aeronautics, plus a Master of Science in Management, but a job offer with the corporate goliath of the funeral business world. He took the job and paid his dues, opening Elemental to serve a growing niche: a greener, more affordable, collaborative approach to funerals. Today Jeff is one of the leaders in a movement of entrepreneurs who are challenging entrenched systems that are often unaware of their environmental impact, and by doing so has discovered he can also provide a less expensive, more intimate experience for the families he serves.

On a train between Seattle and Portland, along the beautiful Puget Sound, University of Washington Teaching Fellow Michael Hebb had one of those serendipitous conversations that changed everything. In the salon car, Michael struck up a conversation with two strangers, both of whom were MDs, and learned two devastating facts: 

• The vast majority of American bankruptcies are related to end of life issues
• 75% of Americans want to die at home, yet only 25% actually do.

This provoked Michael’s question to the doctors: Do you agree that how we end our lives is the most important and costly conversation that Americans are NOT having? The resounding answer was “Yes,” and a few months later, a groundbreaking initiative, called “Let's have dinner and   talk about death,” was born.

In the years since that train ride, these innovative gatherings have taken place on five continents and have been exhibited in several museums, garnering coverage in The New York Times, W, Art Forum, The New Yorker, GQ, TedTalks, The Guardian and dozens of international publications.

For the past 20 years Michael has been following the mandate: "My client is civilization." His projects have turned into international movements and impacted millions. Dinner at his house is, needless to say, unique. With help from friends like Gloria Steinem, Ben Affleck, Spike Lee, Gore Vidal, Clive Owen, and others, students and healthcare professionals share a meal talking about human life, cultural connections, and death. Bon Appétit!