Valley Death Cafe 1st gathering
A write up of Valley Death Cafe
HI,
First conversation held on Tuesday morning, Dec. 10, 2013 for Valley Death Cafe, was thankfully successful. We had a lot of food! (see photo) I felt supported by all I'd read on Death Cafe site, and grateful, was able to facilitate a smooth meeting. I shared the history of Death Cafe. Event was planned for 2 hours with people who mostly knew each other, and it went for an additional half hour with more questions and thoughts shared.
Evaluation at end was very positive. Only women came who were invited and positive about discussion on end-of-life issues. Same amount of people invited didn't come because of discomfort with theme. Home hostess had lost her mother earlier this year, so gathering was consciously held in mother's memory, which had a lot of meaning for all present. A couple of us had lost a good friend a month earlier, and she'd been for hospice for four months. That experience was a catalyst for me to create this Cafe.
My playing the crystal singing bowl before introductions was positive around a large table. Singing bowl is relaxing, and people thanked me for the healing sounds of the heart chakra. We all chanted a familiar blesSing.
I would love to do a follow-up with same group to go more personally into their/our feelings about death, and not only scenarios we have all experienced, or not.
Thank you for sharing your writeups so I could learn in advance.
BlesSings, Joy