Where the Veil Grows Thin

Today I'm talking a bit more about how animals respond to us when we are grieving and how beneficial it can be to align with one when we are sad.

Thank you for listening to Where the Veil Grows Thin.  
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This 40 minute episode welcomes special guest, Akaljeet Khalsa, who  joins me to talk about her work as a Life Coach and Death Doula, how she came to the work, what it looks like and what she does. We explore the three main components of her work being:
Planning, Active Death Care and After Death Care. 

Thank you for listening to Where the Veil Grows Thin.  
You can always get these  wherever you get your podcasts or for more information, visit seanjeung.com.

This piece came as a result of feedback from listeners that not all deaths are like my mom’s. I already knew that, but  hadn’t written about it.                        Today, I do.                                                                                                                                                 Not all death is graceful.                                                                                                                   Dying can sometimes bring the very worst of who we are out into the open.                                                                                                                                                      Caring for someone when they are at their worst can be a challenge.  
If they are someone we love, even loving them can be hard.

Thank you for listening to Where the Veil Grows Thin.  
You can always get these  wherever you get your podcasts or for more information, visit seanjeung.com.

This relatively short episode is an experience I had very early in my work as a hospital chaplain. It is about the honor of sitting with this gentleman.

And how a brief sighting the night before helped set the groundwork.

I was not then and I am not now ever very surprised by the way things seem to unfold. I have had very good teachers. 

Some of them in class rooms and some of them in hospital rooms.

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‘Grannie’ was 100 years old. I never saw her out of bed so I don’t know if she was short or tall, lean or heavy. She had a cat who loved her fiercely and all of us knew that cat was unpredictable and cruel in her punishment if she thought you were trying to do something to Grannie. The cat’s name was Precious and I remember how Grannie smiled when I questioned the choice of names after the first time Precious turned her claws on me. It was a beautiful thing to behold the way Precious would tend to Grannie and stay by her side. Theirs was a deep abiding love and may have been one of the reasons Grannie lived as long as she did.

Thank you for listening to Where the Veil Grows Thin.  
You can always get these  wherever you get your podcasts or for more information, visit seanjeung.com.

There are always waves in end of life work. In hospice work, we know going in, that someone is going to die. But not everyone understands what that really looks like. Sometimes, people think they want to work in hospice but the emotional costs turn out to be too high. I guess I was lucky. I came to it because it had come to me in the most magical way when I was given the gift of bearing witness to my mom’s death in 2000. As a result I know I came to hospice with an incredibly high bar for what it can be like. But I was not prepared for what it feels like when a wave crested that was actually a tidal wave and we found ourselves literally running from one death to the next.

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If there is magic in the time we spend with those who are dying, it is in the listening. It is in the revelations and the epiphanies and the secrets they may tell us. It is in the way their lives spiral inward to reveal the truest beauty in the smallest detail of how we show our love.

Thank you for listening to Where the Veil Grows Thin.  
You can always get these  wherever you get your podcasts or for more information, visit seanjeung.com.

Where and why I hide. Not wanting to assume that this applies to anyone else, I will just own it right now. This is about me. 
Maybe it's about you too.

Thank you for listening to Where the Veil Grows Thin.  
You can always get these  wherever you get your podcasts or for more information, visit seanjeung.com.

Four minutes. Four minutes to think about new beginnings, family traditions, and resolutions. 

Thank you for listening to Where the Veil Grows Thin.  
You can always get these  wherever you get your podcasts or for more information, visit seanjeung.com.

Grief and Loss do not take days off.  Death comes without regard to what day it is or what the day might mean to us and Christmas is no exception. This is a short 7minute episode speaking to all of us as a way to help hold the light steady for those whose lights have been temporarily diminished.

Thank you for listening to Where the Veil Grows Thin.  
You can always get these  wherever you get your podcasts or for more information, visit seanjeung.com.