My Writing

When Private Life Becomes Public By Michelle Thornhill, DEIJ Committee Chair Through a DEIJB lens, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, and Belonging, we recognize that dignity is not automatically preserved in institutional systems. Ten Powerful Ways we can protect our clients when care transitions from home into hospital or facility settings. 1. Protect Cultural Identity Ask about rituals, foods, touch, music, modesty, and spiritual practices. Advocate for cultural a

The Dreaded "D" Word: Downsizing! Are You Dreading Downsizing But Know its Next? Never mind the estimated $27 trillion to $46 trillion in assets transferring to millenials the Great Wealth Transfer. We are focusing on the "The Great Stuff Transfer" and "The Baby Boom Stuff Avalanche." You know you are getting to the time where you must move to a smaller place. Every time the thought crosses your mind, you feel overwhelmed, and so you keep putting it off. Or maybe you are the

Big humungous enormous overwhelming grief and Little itty bitty moments of joy. That is how it seems to go at the beginning, right after a profound loss. And though the grief may never change in size or color or shape, slowly, over time, there will be more and bigger moments of joy, surrounding, cushioning, buoying, billowing the grief. It might be a hearty guffaw, a moment of delight, a splendid afternoon, an unexpected reprieve from the grief. I have been so moved on social

Ahh, the wisdom of being a Wise Elder: "When you are old, devotions, rituals, icons, they fall away; you go straight to the heart."- 87 year old woman and widow. Going straight to the heart, coming straight from the heart. This is what matters. The closer we get to death, the more we know this truism. Everything else falls away. It doesn't matter what we did or how well we did it. All that matters is did we love fully and openly? Did we keep our hearts open? There have been s

"Kiss the joy as it flies..." This is a line from a famous poem titled "Eternity" by William Blake. Someone in my Death Cafe today said she always hated that line in the poem because she wants to hold on to the joy. She wants to keep it close to her. She wants to hold it so tight that it can't leave her. But she also said she knows that isn't how joy works. That it is by nature ephemeral. That it is fleeting. That it can't be restrained or tied down or it will surely die. Tha