Today’s culture denigrates aging with few wise images. Death whispers in euphemisms as consciousness sleepwalks, masquerading as life. How do we age consciously in this unprecedented time of world transition? What does “consciously” mean when death is not far away?

• Roz Bound, Author “Aging Consciously, Dying Awake”

The biggest relief for my clients who are dying is being able to talk to someone about their imminent death—relief with being allowed not to put on a show—to sit in the starkness of their current reality—they bring their own deaths and I listen deeply.

• Jan, a healing practitioner

I can’t do what I did five years ago—and either I deny this truth or I accept it. At some point in time you need to let it go. Yes, it’s sad; you’ve lost a piece of yourself in the aging process. But once you accept this, you relax and everything fall into place. It’s not worth the aggravation of fighting it. Today life is very precious to me. I experience beauty all around me all of the time.

• G., 75 year old male, on aging process

What is a good death? To be gracious when it’s your turn. I go swimming in the lake every day. It’s always bittersweet because the season is short and it ends—sometimes when it gets chilly we want to stay in the water but then I think, “no hoarding” which is flying in the face of the mother (the lake) and recognizing her generosity-we can return and again to this delight. We will come back tomorrow and when it is the last day we will still not ‘hoard’; we will appreciate the gift with gratitude. This is the journey of dying—this ‘no-hoarding’ practice. What is a good death—it’s a practiced death—practicing the ‘letting go’/ ‘no hoarding’.

• Palliative Care Support Worker