What is a Good Goodbye

By Jane Duncan Rogers / December 19, 2017 /

A Good Goodbye with Gail Rubin What is a good goodbye? Gail Rubin, author and speaker, tells us about the need to shop before you drop, the effect of mercury in cremated remains, and the link between self-esteem and facing up to the end of life. Plus a bit of humour!    

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Chocolate skulls? High fashion skeletons? Halloween or Day of the Dead?

By Jane Duncan Rogers / October 31, 2017 /

Eighteen months ago I had to cancel an event in our local town because of complaints about a coffin in a window display we had arranged (read about it in my blog post at the time). How different this is to the natural celebrations that occur with the Day of the Dead in Mexico. Watch…

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Death At Work

By Jane Duncan Rogers / August 16, 2017 /

A death at work is devastating in different ways from at home. If you run a business of any kind, listen in to this conversation as Sheela tells her story of what went wrong, why and what needed to happen to help make the situation better.

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what to say when someone doesn't want to talk to you

What to say when someone doesn’t want to talk to you

By Jane Duncan Rogers / July 6, 2017 /

How to talk to someone who doesn’t want to talk to you You might have a spouse or partner who doesn’t want to talk to you about end of life matters. It’s important for the person left behind to know what to do after they’ve gone. How can you start a conversation with someone who…

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5 Questions to Ask When Someone Is Actually Dying

By Jane Duncan Rogers / June 21, 2017 /

Have you noticed we often use euphemisms about death?  In my last blog on this, just recently I was advocating ‘telling it like it is’, and using words such as death, dying, die. But the fact is, when you come to meet someone whom you know probably has only weeks to live, is it really…

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How To Be When Someone You Know Dies

By Jane Duncan Rogers / May 16, 2017 /

It’s difficult, let’s face it. Someone you know has died. Relatives whom you may or may not know will be grieving. You maybe are grieving, too. How on earth do you acknowledge this?  Here’s an excerpt from my book Gifted By Grief: A True Story of Cancer, Loss and Rebirth, where I reflect on the…

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What We Talk About When We Talk About Death

By Jane Duncan Rogers / May 9, 2017 /

Pushing up the daisies. Kicked the bucket. Passed on. You name it, we have a euphemism for anything to do with someone dying or who has died. Is this us trying to deny it happens?  Is it because we feel embarrassed or disconcerted? Is it because we would rather just ignore the whole topic, and…

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Moving From Scared to Sacred

By Jane Duncan Rogers / February 27, 2017 /

This month’s interview in the BIG Interview Series is with Patty Burgess, President of Possibility with doingdeathdifferently.com. Patty is a friend and colleague, has participated on my Before I Go Programme, and is one wise, wild woman (so right up my street!)   In this short interview she speaks movingly about how death is an…

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Passwords – Keep Private or Share?

By Jane Duncan Rogers / May 25, 2016 /

In the UK’s Saturday Guardian, Adam Golightly writes an anonymous column (Widower of the Parish) recounting his challenges each week as a new widower and father to two children, since his wife Helen died in early April. This week, he faced another apparently small, but in experience huge, problem. The one of passwords. In my…

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Why What You Say to Someone Who Is Grieving Is So Crucial

By Jane Duncan Rogers / January 28, 2016 /

“Everyone’s grieving is unique, and only luck helps us strike the right note in talking with the bereaved. ” So said Mariella Frostrup in last week’s Observer magazine. Yes, grief is definitely unique in it’s expression through each person. But do we really depend on luck if we are talking with those who have been…

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