Completed Life Initiative Podcasts

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Aug 2024

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The Completed Life Initiative offers three podcast series. In Voices of the Completed Life , we interview people who are exploring end-of-life options for themselves or their loved ones . In Gifts of the Completed Life, we have conversations with authors, artists, physicians, and philosophers who explore what having a completed life means to them. In Lexicon of Life and Death, we dive into the vocabulary that society employs to talk about beliefs, hopes, and attitudes towards life and death.

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35 recent

August 16, 202453 min

The Art of Grief - Paul Crawford

Paul Crawford, Curator of the Penticton Art Gallery in Penticton, British Columbia, curated in the Spring of 2024 the MAiD in Canada exhibit, where he invited family and friends of the 50,000 Canadians who have used MAiD to handwrite, type or email letters sharing feelings of grief and loss. Their stories shaped the exhibit and became the topic of many community-wide conversations. Through interviews with writers, musicians, visual artists and storytellers, The Art of Grief explores how artists use their craft to engage and re-design the architecture of their grief. As they discuss their work, a reassurance is offered - that though we might grieve alone, we are never alone in our grief.Follow the Completed Life Initiative Linktree: https://linktr.ee/completedlifeWebsite: https://completedlife.org/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/completedlifeinitiativeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/completedlifeinitiative/Twitter: https://twitter.com/completedlifeLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/completed-life-initiative/

August 9, 202448 min

The Art of Grief - Samuel Sangwa

Sangwa, an expert in creating international cultural and arts events, invited artists - dancers, sculptors, poets and painters - to use their craft to show ways in which the deeply held value of Ubuntu - the belief that “a person is a person through other people” - could help interpret the work of Palliative Care. Through interviews with writers, musicians, visual artists and storytellers, The Art of Grief explores how artists use their craft to engage and re-design the architecture of their grief. As they discuss their work, a reassurance is offered - that though we might grieve alone, we are never alone in our grief.Music: Dance Of The Savanna by Sascha Ende.Follow the Completed Life Initiative Linktree: https://linktr.ee/completedlifeWebsite: https://completedlife.org/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/completedlifeinitiativeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/completedlifeinitiative/Twitter: https://twitter.com/completedlifeLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/completed-life-initiative/

August 2, 202443 min

The Art of Grief - Greg Melville

Journalist Greg Melville, author of Over My Dead Body: Unearthing the Hidden History of America's Cemeteries, shares how cemeteries functioned as the first public art museums, how Abraham Lincoln redefined the concept of “the Good Death” in his Gettysburg Address, and how Facebook has become the largest (digital) graveyard. Enjoy this fascinating interview of the history in America of honoring those who have died with artistic creations. Through interviews with artists - writers, musicians, visual artists and storytellers - The Art of Grief explores how they use their craft to engage and re-design the architecture of their grief. As these artists discuss their work, a reassurance is offered - that though we might grieve alone, we are never alone in our grief.Follow the Completed Life Initiative Linktree: https://linktr.ee/completedlifeWebsite: https://completedlife.org/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/completedlifeinitiativeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/completedlifeinitiative/Twitter: https://twitter.com/completedlifeLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/completed-life-initiative/

July 26, 202454 min

The Art of Grief - Catharine DeLong

Catharine DeLong - harpist, hospice chaplain, interfaith minister, and music thanatologist- shares her thoughts on why the harp has long been considered an instrument of the gods.More Info: This episode from the Art of Grief podcast is with music Thanatologist Catharine DeLong. This week’s podcast features an interview with harpist, hospice chaplain, interfaith minister, and music thanatologist Catharine DeLong. In this conversation, we learn that since ancient times, the harp has been considered an instrument of the gods because of its ability to soften boundaries, that DeLong and Harpo Marx took a lesson with the same teacher, and that there are fewer than 100 music thanatologists on the planet. Enjoy the beautiful music and deep reflections in this podcast. Photo by: Zaza Weissgerber Music performed live by Catharine DeLongThe Art of Grief PodcastThrough interviews with artists - writers, musicians, visual artists and storytellers - we explore how they use their craft to engage and re-design the architecture of their grief. As these artists discuss their work, a reassurance is offered - that though we might grieve alone, we are never alone in our grief. Follow the Completed Life InitiativeLinktree: https://linktr.ee/completedlifeWebsite: https://completedlife.org/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/completedlifeinitiativeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/completedlifeinitiative/Twitter: https://twitter.com/completedlifeLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/completed-life-initiative/

July 19, 202456 min

The Art of Grief - Adam Tendler

Pianist, composer and visual artist, Adam Tendler, began to ponder the “gesture of responsibility with inheritances,” when he received a wad of cash in a manilla envelope upon the death of his father. Through his compositions, piano performances and work as the Artist-in-Residence at the historic Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY, he explores both the gifts we receive gratefully as well as those we never asked for and might not want. Or, in his words, “When the rituals have been completed, what do we do with the socks?” Tendler used his inheritance from his father to commission other artists to compose pieces for him to perform in Inheritances. As the Artist in Residence at Green-Wood Cemetery, he invited the community to contribute items they inherited to create the Exit Strategy exhibit. Through interviews with writers, musicians, visual artists and storytellers, The Art of Grief explores how artists use their craft to engage and re-design the architecture of their grief. As they discuss their work, a reassurance is offered - that though we might grieve alone, we are never alone in our grief.Follow the Completed Life Initiative Linktree: https://linktr.ee/completedlifeWebsite: https://completedlife.org/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/completedlifeinitiativeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/completedlifeinitiative/Twitter: https://twitter.com/completedlifeLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/completed-life-initiative/

July 12, 202450 min

The Art of Grief - Cynthia Clark

Author Cynthia Clark, coached a writing group of 17 storytellers who shared and explored the 68 emotions they experienced around their grief in losing someone who used Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID). Their work was later compiled into the book, The Many Faces of MAiD: What to Expect When Someone You Know Chooses Medical Assistance in Dying. Through interviews with writers, musicians, visual artists and storytellers, The Art of Grief explores how artists use their craft to engage and re-design the architecture of their grief. As they discuss their work, a reassurance is offered - that though we might grieve alone, we are never alone in our grief.Follow the Completed Life Initiative Linktree: https://linktr.ee/completedlifeWebsite: https://completedlife.org/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/completedlifeinitiativeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/completedlifeinitiative/Twitter: https://twitter.com/completedlifeLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/completed-life-initiative/

May 17, 202459 min

Last Doctors: Peter Reagan - Voices of the Completed Life #18

Welcome back to Last Doctors, a new podcast series in the Voices of the Completed Life where we will share conversations with physicians who listen to and care for patients in the last chapters of their lives – when a cure is no longer in sight and the comfort and dignity of the patient becomes the physician’s primary focus.Our final episode features an interview with Dr. Peter Reagan, a retired Family Practice Physician who was the first to write a prescription for MAiD medications in Oregon in 1998.If you would like to share a response to this episode, please feel free to reach out to us on our social media platforms. Additionally, if you would like to share your story of a Completed Life on our podcasts, whether for yourself or a loved one, please reach out to us via email at info@completedlife.org.The Completed Life Podcasts are also available on YouTube------- Follow the Completed Life Initiative:-Linktree-Facebook -Instagram-Threads-X-LinkedIn

May 10, 202458 min

Last Doctors: Christian Ntizimira - Voices of the Completed Life #17

Welcome back to Last Doctors, a new podcast series in the Voices of the Completed Life where we will share conversations with physicians who listen to and care for patients in the last chapters of their lives – when a cure is no longer in sight and the comfort and dignity of the patient becomes the physician’s primary focus.Our second episode features an interview with Dr. Christian Ntizimira, a specialist in palliative and end-of-life care in Rwanda. He is a global advocate, a Fulbright Alumni, a graduate of Harvard Medical School’s Global Health and Social Medicine program, and author of The Safari Concept: An African Framework for End of Life Care, which we discuss in the interview.If you would like to share a response to this episode, please feel free to reach out to us on our social media platforms. Additionally, if you would like to share your story of a Completed Life on our podcasts, whether for yourself or a loved one, please reach out to us via email at info@completedlife.org.The Completed Life Podcasts are also available on YouTube------- Follow the Completed Life Initiative:-Linktree-Facebook -Instagram-Threads-X-LinkedIn

May 3, 202456 min

Last Doctors: Jean Marmoreo - Voices of the Completed Life #16

Last Doctors is a new podcast series in the Voices of the Completed Life where we will share conversations with physicians who listen to and care for patients in the last chapters of their lives – when a cure is no longer in sight and the comfort and dignity of the patient becomes the physician’s primary focus. Dr. Jean Marmoreo, a Canadian physician and author, has helpfully called these remarkable people our “last doctors,” which is the inspiration for the title of our series.This episode features an interview with Dr. Jean Mormareo as she discusses her book, The Last Doctor: Lessons in Living from the Front Lines of Medical Assistance in Dying. New episodes coming May 10 and 17 will feature Dr. Christian Ntizimira, a Palliative Care Physician from Rwanda, and Dr. Peter Reagan, a Family Practice Physician who was the first to write a prescription for MAiD medications in Oregon in 1998.If you would like to share a response to this episode, please feel free to reach out to us on our social media platforms. Additionally, if you would like to share your story of a Completed Life on our podcasts, whether for yourself or a loved one, please reach out to us via email at info@completedlife.org.The Completed Life Podcasts are also available on YouTube------- Follow the Completed Life Initiative:-Linktree-Facebook -Instagram-Threads-X-LinkedIn

April 5, 202420 min

Mgbalu - Lexicon of Life & Death #4

In this latest episode, our hosts reflect on the word, “Mgbalu."Lexicon of Life and Death is a new podcast series where Lynn and Mark Barger Elliott will explore the vocabulary we employ to express beliefs, hopes and attitudes towards life and death. While asking what it means to live a completed life, they will probe ways that language guides us towards embracing full and whole moments in our lives. As we come into the world, we inherit language to interpret and to express our experiences and emotions. Language evolves as the world changes – evidenced by the 690 new English words Merriam-Webster added to the dictionary last year. Language can also limit our abilities to interact with and to describe the world we inhabit. As the poet Jane Hirschfield once observed, as humans, we attempt to explain something that already exists fully, on its own, without words.If you would like to share a response to this episode, please feel free to reach out to us on our social media platforms. Additionally, if you would like to share your story of a Completed Life on our podcasts, whether for yourself or a loved one, please reach out to us via email at info@completedlife.org.The Completed Life Podcasts are also available on YouTube------- Follow the Completed Life Initiative:-Linktree-Facebook -Instagram-Threads-X-LinkedIn