The lights go down, people settle. A violin starts to play. Stage left, an elderly man walks onstage, alone, in a suit and tie, wearing a hat. This is John Cartwright, aged just 87 - The Performer. In this episode, we consider what performance means – on life as performance, and performance as life. How performance brings us alive, stretches us and helps us to grow. Punctuated by his poetry, John Cartwright provides a meditation on ageing, on the body, on movement, and what it means to be alive in this world.
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1:05:20
Episode 39: The Child Grief Counsellor
Zodwa Mabusela works for Khululeka, the only organisation in South Africa focused on children's grief. In this episode, she explains why it’s often difficult to help children in their grief, and what we can do about it. She shares her experience of working in some of our poorest communities, and what all children go through when it comes to death and loss of a loved one, regardless of your circumstances. Zodwa also shares - with great courage and candour - the story of the loss of her own daughter, and how she has dealt with her own grief, using this experience to strengthen the vital work she does.
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48:38
Episode 38: The Pet Bereavement Doula
Dion Chang is a well-known trends analyst who has trained as a death doula. He uses his skills and insight both in the world of work and as a companion to those experiencing something called disenfranchised grief, which is often associated with the loss of a cherished animal companion. In this episode, he describes his journey, offering invaluable perspective on cycles of life and death in several domains. He's a super-interesting guy with great ideas, who shares what it's like to enter the third age of life, and why he chooses ‘rewirement’ over retirement - and why, for now, he is motivated to support people experiencing the loss of a pet.
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46:40
Episode 37: The Family Mediator
Arabella Tresilian is an interpersonal mediator working in the medical care and end-of-life environment. She helps families find acceptance with each other and the challenges they face.Arabella’s nuanced understanding of how emotions manifest in people stems from an awareness of what’s at stake for people. She has a wonderful ability to integrate different stories into a bigger picture to help people move forward that is both inspiring and consoling. Discerning between empathy and the more radical effects of compassion, Arabella shares a range of insights in this episode, the tools and techniques that she uses to help people communicate deeply and arrive at a common understanding.
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59:51
Episode 36: The Lawyer
Rhiannon Thomas has learnt a new way of doing law. Guided by purpose and values, Integrative Law a radically different approach to the win/lose adversarial approach of traditional law. Instead, here is a process that is collaborative and reflective, integrating psychological, spiritual and cultural aspects of a person to discover what motivates their wishes and their actions. Because encountering the law is always an emotional thing - especially when it comes to those deathly bits - wills, guardianship, end-of-life care. Here's a better way to do those things...
A life-affirming Deathcast from Cape Town.
How To Die is a series of conversations with people who dance on the edges of life, to discover what death can teach us.
Because talking about death won’t kill you… it’s good for life.
South Africa