Death, for many, is still a taboo topic — but there are people who are looking to change that.
In recent years, there have been more and more people and groups moving toward a more positive, open view of death. One of the products of this movement is death cafés, where people gather to eat, drink, and talk about death.
Since September 2011, the official Death Café organization has offered more than 3,300 death cafés. They are all not-for-profit events hosted by volunteers in a judgment-free and respectful space, sometimes directly in a funeral home or a more public space like a library or coffee shop.
According to Death Café’s website, their objective is “to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives.” The site also features a blog, death art, and more.
If you’re interested in attending a café, you can check out the site’s list of upcoming events to see if one is happening in your area. If you can’t find one, you can host your own death café by following Death Café’s guide or hosting your own unaffiliated event in your community.
If you’re not quite ready to sit down with strangers to discuss death, you can start getting involved with the death positive movement by checking out other resources online, such as:
- Reading blogs that talk about all things death related, such as:
- Getting acquainted with the Order of the Good Death, a group of funeral professionals, academics, and artists exploring ways “to prepare a death phobic culture for their inevitable mortality.”
- Watching these five TEDtalks on death and dying, plus a few others:
- Checking out the #deathpositive hashtag on Twitter, full of tweets from others who want to talk openly about death. You don’t need a Twitter account to read the tweets, but you do need one to participate in the discussion.
The death positive movement is growing, and more and more people are starting to get comfortable with talking about death. Are you?
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