Talking About Death Won’t Kill You...And May Help You Live More Joyfully Session 1: How to Live Forever

Description

This series, co-hosted by the New Hampshire Alliance for End of Life Options, and the Laconia Public Library will focus on the profound to the practical, helping to demystify and normalize conversations about mortality, death, and what matters in our lives. The series covers how to think about and communicate our end-of-life wishes – a process that evolves as our lives change. Attend in person at the Laconia Public Library! Free and open to all. Would we want to live forever? The world’s great thinkers have answered consistently and emphatically, no! The knowledge of our mortality sharpens our focus on living. Without death, they argue, life itself could become meaningless. But there are other ways to live forever - through those around us, who witness and learn from us. How we approach aging, illness, and end of life can teach and leave our loved ones with a sense of wholeness, hope, forgiveness, and love. These are deep experiences that can pass through generations. So, you can live forever – no cryogenics needed! However, this definition of living forever means taking death out of the closet. By really absorbing its truth, we can sharpen our quality of living. In “How to Live Forever” we’ll start by examining and clarifying our thoughts, values, and beliefs around how we face the end, and through that, how we can live life to its fullest. It’s the first step toward good conversations with those who matter most about some of life’s most profound questions, including how we approach our dying. “How to Live Forever” will be held in two sessions – attend one or both! Session One, focuses on the question: how we would live if we knew we were going to die? We will challenge ourselves to bring this awareness into our daily lives. It’s the foundation for conversations with those who matter most – our loved ones, health care proxy, medical providers, clergy, and others – about how we want to approach our end. New Hampshire Alliance for End of Life Options (NHAELO) is a grassroots organization that believes in sane, humane approaches to death and dying. NHAELO is committed to education and advocacy in the service of better end-of-life experiences for all New Hampshire people. www.nhendoflifeoptions.org