Becoming Familiar with the Transition of Dying…

I was asked recently by a friend to start writing about being a ’midwife’ for the life transition of death. That almost sounds impossible to imagine… ”The life transition of death.” How is death a part of life?

Really, it is a completely natural progression of thought…we live, therefore we die.
Death is possible as the completion of the harmonious cycle, which is life. Life and death exist because of one another. Each fulfills the experience of the other.

Time continues to fly by at a blink of an eye.

Yes, many of you understand what is happening Universally. How everything is speeding up.
How everything is so intense.

As mentioned in my previous blog, there have been slow but sure changes in Mumsie lately.

I guess I didn’t really realize how stressful it was until, after one particularly tiring day mostly spent bickering with Mumsie, I snapped poor Hubby’s head off after he made an innocuous statement. He didn’t say a word at the time, bless him, but he did bring it up again that night when Mumsie had gone upstairs to her room.

I watched my little Zen master playing with my uncle the other day.

Almost 90 years’ difference.

I was shocked when I saw them both sticking their tongues out at each other in that naughty way that I am sure we all remember.
I say that I was shocked because I have always taught my child that this sort of behaviour was not allowed, but what can I say now?

Taking care of my mother, as she becomes less independent, has made me realize how precious life is. She used to be the mother and I the child. Now, as she ages, I am witnessing our positions begin to reverse – am I now her “mother” and she my “child”?

It’s hard to watch Mumsie, who’s always been a vibrant, warm and loving woman, slowly but inevitably become more forgetful, confused and frustrated. Everyone says how wonderfully alert and healthy she is at 93 – and that’s undoubtedly so – but they are not with her 24/7 like I am, so they don’t notice all the inevitable changes that are happening to her.

It’s so strange to me that I celebrate Mother’s Day now as a mother myself.

Whenever my son calls me “Mummy”, it is hard for me not to think of my own mother. It’s almost a strange moment. . .a hesitation to respond, even though it’s been several years since he’s been able to speak.

Last week, my yoga-passionate cousin and her husband came for a visit. It was lovely to spend time with them and we all enjoyed ourselves, especially Mumsie, who is very close to her God-daughter.

One night, after everyone else had gone to bed, my cousin Jo and I had a wonderful chat about yoga – the whole mind, spirit and body aspect of it and how it has helped both of us so much. “I make it a point to find time to practice my yoga every day”, she said, “because I know how beneficial it is for me”. Then came her big question: “How often do you practice”?

Let this day shape you, and bring forth cooperation with whatever is required to make things flow…

I was ‘thinking’ about what I needed to ‘do’ today…
I was ‘thinking’ about how it ‘should’ go…
I was ‘thinking’ about how to manage the timing of the things that I felt I needed to accomplish…

And I realized that all this ‘thinking’ required an awful lot of energy…

Summer’s here, which means our “bed & breakfast” is up and running again, with various relatives and friends visiting from far and near.

A good friend of mine, who comes to visit once every few years but stays no longer than three days each time, says we should have a sign put up on our front door: “Welcome: please remember that guests are like fish – after three days, they begin to smell”. Love it, but we haven’t been driven to that extent – yet.

One quarter of what you eat keeps you alive. The other three-quarters keeps your doctor alive
 (Hieroglyph found in an ancient Egyptian tomb)

In the past, they knew it. Yet thousands of years later we still don’t get it. We are seeing an increase in diabetes and obesity all over the globe. The World Diabetes Foundation and The World Health Organization have recognized that since 1985 over 200 million people worldwide have developed diabetes.