Best Life Best Death

From her early experiences as a young birth doula, through medical school, into working in oncology and hospice, this doctor has seen beauty and denial go hand-in-hand. Realizing that many of us die from diseases created by choices in how we live, she now offers a primary care practice focused on support for better, healthier longevity. What does it mean to age well? How might we get the support we need to make lifestyle changes that can affect the most common diseases? How did seeing 1,000 deaths in one year change how this doctor and mother decided to live her life? https://www.tolifelongevity.com

Join me in conversation with a dynamic woman in her nineties who founded a writing group with friends that is now a sustaining source of inspiration and shared connection. We know that social connection is key to staying engaged as we age, and Mary reflects on what she’s learned about why it matters. As she says so beautifully, “another element of flexibility reveals itself as we age – one that enables us to leave behind ‘what used to be,’ and open ourselves fully to ‘what actually is.’” Ready to be inspired?For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at ⁠⁠www.bestlifebestdeath.com⁠⁠Follow us on our social channels to receive pertinent and helpful resources on death, grieving, and more at:Facebook: ⁠⁠www.facebook.com/bestlifebestdeath⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠www.instagram.com/bestlifebestdeath⁠⁠

This week’s BLBD podcast brings something a little different: it's story time! Listen this week to hear a few of my favorite sections and ideas from this beautiful book by Lisa Smartt, Words at the Threshold: What We Say as We're Nearing Death. As a linguist, she became interested in what people said as they neared the end of life – and not only the words, but the patterns and commonalities. I’ll share what she learned and what she suggests for how you can "courageously and compassionately witness final words.”For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at ⁠⁠www.bestlifebestdeath.com⁠⁠Follow us on our social channels to receive pertinent and helpful resources on death, grieving, and more at:Facebook: ⁠⁠www.facebook.com/bestlifebestdeath⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠www.instagram.com/bestlifebestdeath⁠⁠

Are you ready for some real talk about what may be missing in your healthcare experience? Dr. Bob Uslander highlights the “gaps in care” we rarely name — gaps in planning, knowledge, understanding treatment options, and navigating care needs, including hospice. How does poor coordination in our healthcare system limit communication and leave crucial choices, like VSED (Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking), poorly understood and seldom discussed? And how can we better recognize life-enhancing services and therapies that improve quality of life, even while on the path of dying? Ultimately, how do we navigate complex medical situations with clearer information and better understanding of the limitations we will likely face?For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at ⁠⁠www.bestlifebestdeath.com⁠⁠Follow us on our social channels to receive pertinent and helpful resources on death, grieving, and more at:Facebook: ⁠⁠www.facebook.com/bestlifebestdeath⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠www.instagram.com/bestlifebestdeath⁠⁠

This week, Dr. Uslander and I dive into the often-overlooked transition from hospital to home. How can that shift go more smoothly? What does it really take to understand a discharge summary? And how can families prepare for a period that is so often confusing, rushed, and chaotic? Unfortunately, the current U.S. medical system seems primarily designed to prioritize profit, increase efficiency, and reduce liability. As a result, far more responsibility lands on patients, families and caregivers. We are left to decipher medical instructions, identify gaps in care, ask for the right resources, and advocate for ourselves and our loved ones at exactly the time when we may feel least able to do so. This week’s conversation on BLBD explores ways to navigate this transition with more clarity and confidence. Visit: https://empoweredendings.comFor more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at ⁠⁠www.bestlifebestdeath.com⁠⁠Follow us on our social channels to receive pertinent and helpful resources on death, grieving, and more at:Facebook: ⁠⁠www.facebook.com/bestlifebestdeath⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠www.instagram.com/bestlifebestdeath⁠⁠

Starting in her twenties—and quickly shaped by an experience of profound love and loss—Lauren Carroll has devoted her life to the funeral profession and the wider end-of-life field. In guiding people through loss and grief, she’s found that creativity can offer the action we instinctively seek. Whether you set up an altar, create a collage, connect with nature, make space to remember, dance, shout, sing, or write… we crave actions that help move and shape our grief. And when creativity is paired with community, it creates a space—both within and around us—where loss can soften, even if just a little. At one point in our conversation, I read a line from The Art of Grieving: How the Arts and Art Making Help Us Grieve and Live Our Best Lives by Sheila Collins: “To what life is this loss calling us?” (Listen in for the full, beautiful story behind that question.) www.lamort.orgFor more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at ⁠⁠www.bestlifebestdeath.com⁠⁠.Follow us on our social channels to receive pertinent and helpful resources on death, grieving, and more at:Facebook: ⁠⁠www.facebook.com/bestlifebestdeath⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠www.instagram.com/bestlifebestdeath⁠⁠

Here with the holiday of Thanksgiving in the US in 2025, join us for a chat about Rhea’s experience as a Chaplain, and the idea of finding a bit of slower “turtle time” when we need it. Rhea leads us in a guided meditation in which we can rest, welcome all of ourselves, and let it allll jussst beeee. She guides us to make friends with the breath as we gently relax and follow her voice. Whether you are a caregiver, harried cook, newly bereaved, with people or solo, celebrating or not excited about the upcoming holidays…this episode invites you into a world of stillness that is always close by.For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at ⁠⁠www.bestlifebestdeath.com⁠⁠Follow us on our social channels to receive pertinent and helpful resources on death, grieving, and more at:Facebook: ⁠⁠www.facebook.com/bestlifebestdeath⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠www.instagram.com/bestlifebestdeath⁠⁠

More from author, cancer survivor and psychospiritual specialist David Maginley! Building on our conversation from last week, David and I continue to explore the impact of Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada. As he says, “This goes far beyond the hospital bed and goes to the heart of our culture.” I would agree – MAiD is huge topic for our time. I certainly don’t have answers, but wow did I enjoy the depth of these conversations and David’s book Early Exits: Spirituality, Mortality, and Meaning in an Age of Medical Assistance in Dying. For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at ⁠⁠www.bestlifebestdeath.com⁠⁠Follow us on our social channels to receive pertinent and helpful resources on death, grieving, and more at:Facebook: ⁠⁠www.facebook.com/bestlifebestdeath⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠www.instagram.com/bestlifebestdeath⁠⁠

Ready for a deep dive? You can’t get much deeper than asking: What is the purpose of death? This episode is about Medical Assistance in Dying, yes, but that is only the avenue in for a next-level discussion. What are the psycho-spiritual dynamics around death? What does it mean that the ego dissolves? How does consciousness expand at the end of life? As a Chaplain, cancer survivor, and someone who has worked in palliative care for over 25 years, David Maginley has much to say. And I am – and hopefully you will be – an eager listener.For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at ⁠⁠www.bestlifebestdeath.com⁠⁠Follow us on our social channels to receive pertinent and helpful resources on death, grieving, and more at:Facebook: ⁠⁠www.facebook.com/bestlifebestdeath⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠www.instagram.com/bestlifebestdeath⁠⁠

This episode is chock-full of important information about a topic that affects so many. What is dementia? What symptoms might it include? Why does it matter to test for dementia? What is a “dementia advance directive”? What are the needs of caregivers? How can support groups help? Jessica Empeño is the National Director of Clinical Engagement & Education for the nonprofit organization called Compassion and Choices. If you aren’t familiar with this key organization, search them up today. Their indispensable and free downloadable workbook on this subject is called the “Dementia Values and Priorities Tool.” Books we mention include: The 36 Hour Day; Care Boss; and The Best Friends Approach to Dementia Care.For more information on Best Life Best Death please visit our website at ⁠⁠www.bestlifebestdeath.com⁠⁠.Follow us on our social channels to receive pertinent and helpful resources on death, grieving, and more at:Facebook: ⁠⁠www.facebook.com/bestlifebestdeath⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠www.instagram.com/bestlifebestdeath⁠⁠