24/07/2017
Musings of a Blonde Homeopath... A rare day in which I was glad to open the newspaper, I saw this very intriguing headline "Death Cafe Founder Dies; His Movement Lives On". Six years ago Jon Underwood held his first death cafe, laying out tea and cake in his east London basement, inviting people to openly discuss death and mortaliity. He was inspired by the ideas of a Swiss sociologist named Bernard Crettaz who conceptualised the "cafe mortels". To my surprise this is a worldwide movement with over a 1000 death cafes being held in over 50 countries, including the USA. A space to get together and embrace the fact that death is around the corner and none of us know when. These cafes are open to people of any religion or culture. I love it. This is fantastic. I had this lesson reinforced for me in the many buddhist retreats I've been on. I have drawn tremendous amounts of inspiration from the practice of death mediation, of impermanence, of the acknowledgement that any breath could be my last. Its a reminder to live and love each moment you have and never wish any of them away. The present is all that I truly have and the future merrely an ethereal dream bubble of maybe, could be. I feel more and more alive the more I realise that I can't bank on any future moments because that forces me to seize this moment, dive into each second and live it. Life is a stream of experiences, sensations, challenges and adventures, I may not enjoy them all but I do want to experience them all. Put a little attention to your mortality, open the discussion on death and make friends with finality. Let that friend fully open your senses to the moments you have. Mr Underwood died suddenly on June 27 of this year. His sudden passing was a shock and yet in the words of his sister "there is a bizarre irony about dealing with the sudden death of my brother who devoted his life to raising our awareness about the fact that life is short and unpredictable...in some ways the irony is horrible, in others it is strangely helpful...he lived every day reflecting very consciously on the fact that none of us know how long we have and focused completely on being present in and making the most of every minute". Thanks to the Toronto Star newspaper for this gem. Practice death meditation to live a fuller happier life..And maybe open a Death Cafe...love and .peace out.