Brazilian CEO Ricardo Semler knows how to live life well it seems. He has a great take on life. Every Monday and Thursday he has “terminal days” and does whatever he would have done if he ‘got the news’.
Live life well – top tip
Table for one
“Table for one”. It can be a liberation, an embarrassment, a statement, a wee shame, a treat. Like everything else in life, it’s all about attitude, perspective and most of all, choice. I’ve just had a birthday. I chose to go out for dinner on my own in a city I don’t know. I’d flown in, […]
Become a tree when you die
At Bristol Museum’s Death Fair at the weekend I was asked “You know you can become a tree when you die… how do I do that?” Well, here is one route to eternal life. I invited my friends at Capsula Mundi to explain…
5 conversations about death
Check out the Conversation Project in the US and next time you’re prepping dinner, dicing carrots or enjoying a bite and a glass with friends, use Final Fling as the perfect excuse for starting conversations about life and death.
Cost of funerals in Scotland
At the end of 2015, Scottish Government commissioned Citizens Advice Scotland to produce a report about the cost of funerals in Scotland. Final Fling met with authors John Birrell and Fraser Sutherland in December to talk ‘funeral poverty’ and feed into the report.
How Alzheimer’s became a gift
This week’s blogger, Maggie, shares her experience of her mum’s Alzheimer’s.
“I’m at peace. I have no worries or fear. Death is nothing to be afraid of.”
Investment opportunity
Interested in an investment opportunity? I hope you’ll use Final Fling to invest in yourself and your significant others. You can use it to store and share your valuables (stories, home movie clips, sound files) and make sure your digital legacies don’t get lost among your digital litter. I’ve been investing in myself and my own […]
Woman’s Hour moment
Bucket List moment today. Got onto Woman’s Hour! Listen again. Jenni Murray was her usual amazing self, interviewing Fling blogger Dr Kate Granger, Jenny Katzinger, Rabbi Julia Neuberger, fab funeral director Emma O’Driscoll (and daughters) with myself and Emma Freud doing the last 5 minutes. As I heard someone say today, every time you take one […]
Planning a good death
To kick off 2016, Jane Duncan Rogers ran a Planning a good death workshop, incorporating her own book, her Good Death Checklist and Final Fling’s planning tools, giving workshoppers the chance to chat, share, think, talk, plan and record. Here, Jane shares a bit about the session and the feedback. Our sell-out Planning a Good Death […]
Women Do Death Differently
10 years ago, it occurred to me that maybe women do death differently. That’s when I bought the domain name, Final Fling, in the hope that I could contribute in some way. We’re more about emotional engagement than transaction. We’re collaborative, supportive, we cut to the chase and focus on the important things. We’re good at […]
Death as a medical failure
9.30am and I’ve already read a couple articles about death as a medical failure. The thing is, the great authorities: professionals, doctors and surgeons who do such an amazing and laudable job to protect, cure and save us, also just find it very, very hard to let go. Maybe almost as hard as we do. And […]
Breast cancer and chemo – would you?
Breast cancer and chemo. There’s something you don’t want to be thinking about. Ever. But Flinger, Cally Nurse had to recently. We thought it might help others to hear Cally’s experience, told in her words: “Chemo is not for me I’m afraid,” I said to Mr Harris…
Can we compost dead bodies?
Can we compost dead bodies? If you want to get straight to the point with more unusual death questions, Caitlin Doughty’s yer woman!
In this short film, Caitlin – in her irreverent and always intelligent, informed and spirited way – Caitlin shares her knowledge and experience… in this blog about the question of whether or not it’s possible to compost dead bodies.
3 things to offer the dying – the soul midwives way
“20 years ago this month, a traumatic session at the hospice where I volunteered sowed the seeds for Soul Midwives.” This is the story of the birth of soul midwives in the UK. It’s the (abridged) story of Felicity Warner, who has trained a network of people ready to support others through the final journey […]
Get rich or die tryin – 3 top tips for the year ahead
As we set forth on the good ship 2016, if you’re focus is on how to ‘get rich or die tryin’, let us make it easy for you.
And to save you reading on… if you see ‘rich’ and think fame and fortune, you are lost my friend. If you see ‘rich’ and think happiness, joy, fulfilment, you’re on the right track. Keep reading.
Happy new you
Happy new you! Yep. That’s what Final Fling is all about. Making life the best it can be, whatever is going on for you.
So if you’re in New Year’s Resolution mode, new year, new start, new you, how about doing a wee bit of thinking, feeling, reflecting and planning that might set you off on the right foot for the year and even take a load off.
Coping with loss at Christmas
If you need help, coping with loss at Christmas, we think you might like a look at tips from The Compassionate Friends. This group has come together through common experience – the loss of a son or daughter. The tips, we think, will be of general help to anyone dealing with loss.
Celebrants in the UK
What’s Princess Diana got to do with the rise of celebrants in the UK? This week, friend of Final Fling, Ken West (pictured with wife Anne) – the UK’s authority on natural burial grounds – shares his knowledge, experience and personal views about the emergence of celebrants in the UK. Ken’s been involved in over […]
Grasping the nettle… the future of palliative care in Scotland
How does the future of palliative care in Scotland look? Well, talking to friends involved in death and dying down South, pretty good actually.
That’s in no small part to the work of an active and engaged group of people who meet as the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care and who run the website Good Life Good Death Good Grief and its events, like To Absent Friends festival.
Memories
Thanks to Beccy who’s shared this great childhood festive pic of her and sister Emma and these thoughts about family get-togethers – so much part of this time of year – and memories. “On the rare occasions we meet up with my step-brother, some time is always set aside for a conversation whose loose theme […]