To Flow As Water Does

We are all going to die. Let me repeat that. We are all going to die. So get over it. Or at least do the best you can to get over it because you can't stop it from happening.

The problem is that as a culture we have grown to associate death with an end, with a loss, with grief, with pain. How would our relationship with death change if we could realign our perspective so that death is viewed simply a transition? Death is what is supposed to happen. It is natural. It is—depending on one's spiritual views—just another life event. If we talked about death more, would we be so scared of it?

There is a practice in psychology that involves addressing trauma by talking about it and by allowing the very feelings that one tries so hard to block out to be fully experienced. At first, the very idea of undergoing this process is terrifying and causes anxiety in a patient. A patient typically has spent great amounts of effort avoiding everything related to the trauma—sights, smells, sounds, textures, etc—that he or she has gone tremendously out of his or her way not to come into contact with the feelings originating from the trauma. I equate it to walking around the other side of a building that takes up a full city block in order to avoid a puddle. Patients most likely will not be successful in dealing with their trauma and its lingering emotions if they attempt to change their perspective by running headlong into the puddle. Rather it is a process. First, one must think about not walking around the other side of the building. That in an of itself is a challenge. Then one might decide to examine the puddle from afar. Next the puddle may be approached. Perhaps the patient throws a stone in the puddle. The patient might then sit next to the puddle. Each phase of the process is slow and dutiful, and at any time there may be regression so that the patient again must walk around the other side of the building in order to experience a bit of relief from the intense feelings that arise from dealing with one's puddle. 

This exercise allows the patient to address their fears and emotions with a certain degree of control. Control is the very thing that many trauma victims lost and what they try so vigilantly to maintain post-trauma as a method of coping. But trying to control everything that goes on around us is exhausting. Patients may seem stressed, hyper-critical, and unreasonable, but all they are really trying to do is protect themselves from being hurt again. Fear is the motivation. Fear is what must be quieted. 

Like trauma victims fear losing control and being subjected to reminders of their trauma or a subsequent trauma, we fear death because we can not control it. We try to. We hang on so tightly that we strangle our own lives, and when the time comes, deathbed wishes tend not to be that we were more punctual, or had the oil changed more often, or cleaned the bathroom tile grout more throughly. The regrets are that we did not live more, love more, laugh more. 

And so we must learn to let go. We must learn to control only that which we can control and which is worth controlling, and let the rest be as it will. We must relax, accept, and move with the fluidity of life like a leaf floating on the surface of a rushing stream. We will be swept along, we will reach eddies and be trapped by twigs, we will sink, and we will rise, yet we will still be a leaf. And when our leaf finally settles in its resting place, it's return to the earth will nourish new life, and so the cycle continues. 

As we accept our condition of impermanence and allow ourselves to move with the flow, we may still exercise good judgment to make preparations that will ease the lives of those around us at the time of our passing. Such is the role of advanced directives, which spell out an individual's wishes for end of life care in the event that the individual can not speak for him or herself. Rather than leave family members, friends, and caregivers wondering what one's wishes might be, one can have a say and help alleviate some of the doubt and stress of decision making. To issue an advance directive is to give the gift of peace of mind. For those who struggle with a desire to control life and death, writing advanced directives is the closest that one can come. Directives are not simply wills that divide personal belongings. Advance directives relate to all documents regarding the end of life. Directives allow one to say whether he or she desires life prolonging measures, whether measures should be taken for two weeks or two years, whether one wishes to donate organs, how one wishes to have his or her body put to rest, as well as how one wishes financial and property issues be handled. 

Those whose end of life wishes may be considered unique or those who already know that their wishes are not in line with their family's wishes are particularly encouraged to pursue advance directives. For example, I have determined that I want a green burial—one without embalming fluids that will allow me to decompose naturally in a green cemetery where coffins are made of natural materials or bodies are buried only in a shroud. My advance directive outlines this wish, as well as notes my desired cemetery, my casket of choice should one be required, my pall bearers, and my wishes for visitation and burial ceremonies—there will be punch and pie and pierogi. I update the document, which is a simple form that I keep on my computer, every year or so and have shared it with my husband and parents. My directive documents are not legal documents because I have discussed my desires with my family. My family is supportive of my decisions. Those who may not have this kind of support will want to ensure their documents are legally binding—not to sue from the grave, but for peace of mind. 

Evaluating one's own final wishes can be an extremely uncomfortable task. Consequently, my recommendation is to think about final wishes before one needs to think about final wishes. Although the questions often are deep and emotional ones, one is essentially writing an agreement—though is it easier for one to change his or her mind about whether to play Eric Clapton or B.B. King at the service than it is to get out of a cell phone contract. Families may wish to make writing advance directives a group effort to be approached with love and light and laughter. The fact of the matter is that the majority of people are afraid of the same things, which means that no one is actually alone in their fears. Like the trauma victim working through the therapeutic process, talking about fears takes away some of their power. 

Caring Connections, a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Engagement Organization, provides a wonderful set of resources for creating advance directives including state specific directives and information about starting a discussion with loved ones about advance directives and end of life issues. (To access these resources, visit this link.) Before beginning such a conversation, one should read Dr. Ann Becker Shutte's "Five Steps for More Compassionate Listening" to help facilitate a productive and caring dialogue. Shutte is a licensed counseling psychologist who also leads a weekly Twitter chat about end of life issues at 10 p.m. EST on Wednesdays. To participate, follow the #EOLchat tag. Make it a goal to have discussed matters with your loved ones—or better yet have written your own advance directives—by April 16, 2012, which is National Healthcare Decisions Day and allow yourself to spend your energy living instead of trying worrying about dying.