I have found exactly the same thing with people surrounding terminally ill patients. \u00a0This isn\u2019t surprising, because dying is, of course, a time of great grief; and much of the experiences we have when grieving a great loss in our own life are similar to those we have when grieving the loss <\/span>of<\/span><\/i> our own life. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some friends and loved ones can show up fully there and support their loved one in whatever ways are needed. \u00a0Some cannot be found. \u00a0And the rest try to help but actually may make the situation less comfortable.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I was recovering from my first open heart surgery, a friend from church was beginning chemotherapy for her newly diagnosed breast cancer. \u00a0We had much in common: \u00a0toddler sons, serious medical conditions, and lots of odd encounters with people who attempted to be helpful.<\/span><\/p>\n

We began to collect all the awkward conversations, each of the seemingly kind but actually hurtful comments. \u00a0We had plans to someday compile them into a book.<\/span><\/p>\n

It would include the remarks that related her cancer to a shortened period of breast-feeding or my heart condition to an inability to forgive people in my life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Also in the book would be compiled doctors\u2019 curt assessments, fueled by too many statistics and a paucity of compassion.<\/span><\/p>\n

The thoughtless, tired old adages would be there too: \u00a0God only gives you what you can handle. \u00a0You must be really strong in order for the universe to send you this challenge. \u00a0At least you got to have a baby before you got sick.<\/span><\/p>\n

We eventually realized that that book would be way too dark for us to ever write. \u00a0We also knew that anyone in our condition had experienced just as many awkward conversations and hurtful comments.<\/span><\/p>\n

And, besides, it actually wasn\u2019t those sharp, barbed phrases that hurt me the most. \u00a0In fact, they made decisions very easy for me; when someone began to talk about my illness \u2013 or anyone else\u2019s \u2013 in such a manner, I would just chuckle internally, amazed at their cluelessness, and focus on others around me who did not say those types of things. \u00a0And, in times of great compassion, I had empathy for them; their ideas about loss, their fear of entering into that wilderness I now inhabited, I knew would someday bring them great difficulties.<\/span><\/p>\n

For me, it\u2019s that second group of Wolfelt\u2019s categorization that has caused the most harm.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not just talking about those who physically ignore me and my condition \u2013 the people who stop calling when I become ill, the friends who promise to visit but never do, the well-meaning but unsure ones who mumble, \u201cLet me know if you need anything\u201d as they back quickly away from me. \u00a0I have gotten used to that. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What I still struggle with is feeling invisible, sometimes even around people who are close to me.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I have been in hundreds of hospital rooms and nursing homes where the visitors talk to one another but not to the person they are visiting. \u00a0It feels as though they want to pretend that their loved one is not sick or dying, so they continue with their conversations next to the bedside, often leaving that person out of the conversation entirely. \u00a0Sometimes they bombard the sick with never-ending tales of their own life, never pausing long enough for the person they are visiting to actually speak. \u00a0I understand why we behave that way. \u00a0We are uncomfortable around illness (and certainly around death), so we try to distract ourselves with chatter.<\/span><\/p>\n

But every time we do that we miss an opportunity to actually be with the person we are with; and we do that to our detriment as much as, if not more than, to theirs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wolfelt calls his categorization of support people \u201cThe Rule of Thirds\u201d, because he finds that the groups of \u201csupporters\u201d fall into thirds. \u00a0I am not sure if he actually means that statistically in terms of grief support.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s not my experience at all with the dying. \u00a0I think that that last group \u2013 the ones who can be present to us and with us \u2013 often contains a very small number. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This perhaps is not surprising. \u00a0It isn\u2019t something we were taught about as children. \u00a0We didn\u2019t have classes on how to help our friends who are sad, although that surely would be a wonderful component to any education.<\/span><\/p>\n

And it used to be. \u00a0Every single wisdom tradition, every religion ritualizes this support in order to instruct us on how to be the most loving and helpful to those who are dying. \u00a0And the guidance is very simple \u2013 and sometimes very challenging to follow.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sit<\/b><\/p>\n

My friend Rabbi Joe recently taught me something very important about the Jewish tradition of sitting <\/span>shiva<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0I have studied this rite of mourning for years and have participated in it a few times; yet I have not witnessed one of the oldest and most sacred traditions within this rite, and it has to do with those supporting the bereaved.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beginning on the day of the funeral and lasting for seven days, those closest to the deceased gather together in a home, usually that of the person who has died, and for seven days they sit and pray together. \u00a0Others come to support them, bringing food and comfort.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Traditionally, those sitting <\/span>shiva<\/span><\/i> sit on chairs low to the ground to signify the downward pull of their bereaved state and to reinforce their humanity (even our word \u201chuman\u201d is derived from the Latin word <\/span>humus<\/span><\/i>, meaning earth; there is a similar etymological connection between the words for \u201chuman\u201d and \u201cearth\u201d in Hebrew). \u00a0But here\u2019s what Rabbi Joe shared with me, which I find so beautiful: \u00a0those who come to support the bereaved should sit on the floor near them. \u00a0They do this to show solidarity, to physically indicate, \u201cI am here with you, and I will stay with you wherever you are in this journey.\u201d \u00a0There is no attempt to pull people up from that place low to the ground or to remind them to look upward toward the heavens. \u00a0There is simply companionship where they are.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is exactly what the dying need to experience as well. \u00a0It may not be physically possible to sit on the floor, but where and how we sit when spending time with the dying is vitally important. \u00a0Already, most of us who are dying are in physical positions that reflect our vulnerability and weakness. \u00a0Don\u2019t stand above us and talk down to us, please. \u00a0Don\u2019t sit too far away from us, signifying the chasm between your situation and ours. \u00a0Come close. \u00a0And just sit.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Be Quiet<\/b><\/p>\n

Another traditional aspect of supporting those sitting <\/span>shiva<\/span><\/i> that can be used in supporting the dying is to refrain from speaking. \u00a0When entering the place where the bereaved are sitting and praying, we are advised to not speak. \u00a0We speak only after the bereaved has spoken.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are many beautiful gifts that arise from this prescribed silence. \u00a0We avoid saying the often thoughtless things that first arise in our minds in times like this. \u00a0Conversations about ourselves and the external world cannot serve to distract us from the sacred space the bereaved inhabit. \u00a0And we have the opportunity to wait and see what they would like to say \u2013 if they would like to say anything at all. \u00a0This millennia-old tradition is structured to assist the bereaved as they navigate this liminal state of early grief. \u00a0By remaining quiet until they speak, we can learn what that state is like for them in every single moment. \u00a0We focus our attention on just being there for them, not on mindless chatter.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

With the dying, this is imperative as well. \u00a0If we refrain from the stories, the banter, the jokes with the nurses, we can better tune into the person we are there to see. \u00a0Sit, be quiet, look into our eyes, hold our hand. \u00a0Breathe deeply. \u00a0Do not try to change the state that we are in, to \u201ccheer us up\u201d or to help us \u201cface reality\u201d about our condition. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And what you find may be that we do want to hear your stories, we may want to laugh at your jokes, we may like to be cheered up or helped to understand our situation. \u00a0But we may not.<\/span><\/p>\n

At times when I am in that hospital bed, I relish the tales of my children\u2019s athletic events and homework, my husband\u2019s work, cultural or political events beyond my sterile room. \u00a0And at other times, I find such things distract me from really deep places that where I am drawn, places of quiet contemplation and prayer.<\/span><\/p>\n

The only way to know what our loved ones need is to be quiet and pay attention. \u00a0And if we feel compelled to speak, we can first ask if that is welcome (\u201cI heard a funny joke, can I share it with you?\u201d or \u201cWould it feel good to listen to a story right now?\u201d). \u00a0But we do well to be mindful of the urge within us to talk in this way. \u00a0Are we trying to avoid venturing to the wild landscape where that person now lives?<\/span><\/p>\n

If so, let us be quiet.<\/span><\/p>\n

There have been a few times when people have broken their silence with me in ways that were absolutely perfect. \u00a0Once, a relative asked me gently, \u201cAre you afraid?\u201d \u00a0Others in the room gasped, worried that she had given voice to something everyone was afraid to discuss. \u00a0But I felt such relief to hear this question. \u00a0It let me know that she was trying to be with me where I was. \u00a0In that moment, I felt entirely seen and supported.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Wild Landscape of Dying<\/b><\/p>\n

The biggest barrier we have to actually following through in these two very simple instructions (Sit, Be Quiet) when we are with the dying is that we have not learned to venture into these scary places ourselves. \u00a0It is absolutely essential that we explore our own relationship with death at every opportunity if we want to be present for, to, and with our loved ones who are dying.<\/span><\/p>\n

My relative who avoided calls because he felt he had nothing to give due to his lack of experience? \u00a0He had not dared to contemplate how my husband or I might be feeling. \u00a0That was too frightening, so he avoided it altogether. \u00a0And the relative who asked about my fear, the one who allowed herself to actually be pulled into my experience, had begun to imagine what that may be like for her. \u00a0Each of us can do this. \u00a0We have the capacity to feel empathy for others who are having much different situations than our own; we need only to open our hearts and minds a little bit and be willing to walk their path \u2013 purely in our imaginations. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Death is a wild landscape with ever-changing features. \u00a0No two journeys into that realm are alike; yet many of us do seem to visit similar features in that landscape. \u00a0Our individual and collective constructions of death and dying help form our approach to this landscape. \u00a0So many of us try to avoid death \u2013 even contemplating it \u2013 yet everyone eventually gets pulled into this wilderness. \u00a0Although every living being will experience this wild place, each of us navigates our particular path through it all alone.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the past seventeen years, I have been through numerous hospice trainings \u2013 as a participant and as a presenter. \u00a0And by far the best are those that require a great deal of work with death on all levels \u2013 not just mentally thinking about death, but emotionally confronting our fears and even physically attempting to place ourselves within similar circumstances to the dying. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Explore the wildness of death \u2013 in your mind, in your heart, in your culture\u2019s construct, in your religion\u2019s stories. \u00a0Spend time. \u00a0Walk with curiosity. \u00a0Open to your longings, your fears, your questions, and your assumptions. \u00a0Develop a relationship with death. \u00a0Without venturing into this wild landscape ourselves, we are not able to follow those we love as they navigate their journey.<\/span><\/p>\n

And they need us to follow. \u00a0And we need to follow.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Dying as Gurus<\/b><\/p>\n

When we learn to sit and be quiet with the dying, to simply be present with them wherever they are, we are gifted with unparalleled opportunities. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In all wisdom traditions, it is customary for students to sit down at the feet of the teacher and just listen. \u00a0When we learn to sit and be still with the dying, they become our gurus. \u00a0They inhabit a liminal space; they zoom between time zones and can hold a lifetime in one glance. \u00a0The wisdom they have to share often is incomparable to that found anywhere else. \u00a0It may not come through words. \u00a0It may be communicated through glances or even just a feeling we get when in their presence.<\/span><\/p>\n

And when we learn to sit and be quiet with our dying gurus, we find that they are supporting us just as much as we are supporting them.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI haven\u2019t called you, because I just don\u2019t know what to say.\u201d \u00a0My (former) husband had finally caught up with his relative, who admitted that he had been avoiding calls and requests for support. \u00a0\u201cI have never been in your situation. \u00a0Your wife is dying. \u00a0I don\u2019t know what that\u2019s like, so how could I know how to help you?\u201d the young person asked. I had just been diagnosed with a terminal condition, and I was quickly learning how challenging it was to find people who could help me. \u00a0Not with medical assistance, although that was challenging as well. \u00a0What […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n