Your Life in Dots
What does your life look like in weeks? If you could see a chart that represented 90 years of human life, where would you fall on it?...
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My Writing
Here are my blogposts. My most current writings can be found here on LinkedIn.
Please Contact Me for more info.
Rhyena Halpern
5 days ago2 min
When A Work Colleague Dies
Have you ever known a colleague in the workplace who died suddenly? I remember when I first started a new job many years ago, a...
Rhyena Halpern
Sep 301 min
Grief in the Workplace
When I went back to work after my mom died, I did not expect such an outpouring of condolences from my staff. I was very touched by the...
Rhyena Halpern
Sep 252 min
Wise Elders in the Office! Watch Out!
With about 11 million employees in the US 65 years old or older, or about 7% of all workers, the workforce in this country has a wider...
Rhyena Halpern
Sep 241 min
When Does the Soul Leave the Body?
I like the ritual of gently washing the human body after death. Jewish tradition calls this ritualized body washing and purification...
Rhyena Halpern
Sep 231 min
Are You Death Illiterate?
Death Literacy. This newish term keeps coming up. For me, it means we can talk about death, we can plan for our death, we can talk about...
Rhyena Halpern
Sep 91 min
How Talking About Death Helps Lessen the Fear of Death
Talking about death a lot makes me less afraid of dying. I have been leading Death Cafes online for the Elisabeth Kubler Ross Foundation...
Rhyena Halpern
Sep 52 min
And Also Annika
Annika would not believe it but her TikTok videos have exceeded 40 million unique views! She doesn't know because she died. Annika was...
Rhyena Halpern
Aug 51 min
What Does Grief Mean to You?
I got so mad when Hospice called me a few months after my mom died for a 'grief check-in' call. My mom died 7 years ago and the call came...
Rhyena Halpern
Aug 41 min
What is Compressed Morbidity?
The term "compressed morbidity" doesn't sound nearly as wonderful as it is. In Eastern philosophy, it refers to someone being in tune...
Rhyena Halpern
Feb 181 min
I Don't Want to Die with Regrets
I don't want to die with regrets. Like you, I have no idea when death will come for me. But, I can say unequivocally, I am motivated by...
Rhyena Halpern
Feb 181 min
Why Do I Need an Advance Care Directive?
The crazy thing I want for every U.S. resident: When you register to vote or get your driver's license or register for college or the...
Rhyena Halpern
Feb 182 min
Hospice Does Not Equal Death
People equate hospice with death. If you think of the word 'Death,' you are not alone. It never ceases to amaze me that in the 50 years...
Rhyena Halpern
Nov 27, 20231 min
Is Heartbreaking Grief Optional?
I want to gently, kindly, lovingly say 'Yes'! If your person has the time to prepare and plan and accept dying and you get to hear their...
Rhyena Halpern
Oct 28, 20231 min
My Dead People Are in My Backyard in Canisters
That is my mom in the big silver urn, my sister in the blue swirly bottle and my father in the gold and blue box. Let me correct myself,...
Rhyena Halpern
Apr 18, 20223 min
Is Grief Optional? Is it Love with No Place to Go?
When my mom died 5 years ago exactly, at the age of 94, she gave me one last surprise gift. It was liberation from the agonizing,...
Rhyena Halpern
Dec 9, 20212 min
Liberating Grief
As an End of Life Doula and Hospice Volunteer, I know of so many people who have experienced the loss of a loved one in the most dramatic...
Rhyena Halpern
Aug 21, 20204 min
How the Culture of Repression Keeps Death A Secret
I have often inadvertently pissed people off by speaking openly and honestly, violating the constraints and strictures of the majority...
Rhyena Halpern
Aug 21, 20202 min
The Gift of A Good Death
Photo by Public Domain Pictures by Pixaby I saw my hospice patient each Thursday for 13 months. The first time was day after she turned...
Rhyena Halpern
Aug 21, 20202 min
Top Ten Questions You Need to Answer if You Will Ever Die
This is not a story about my hospice patient with advanced Parkinson’s and how over the year I have seen her every Thursday as a...