Ep. 380 Heartwood: The Cycle of Life and Loss with Barbara Becker

End-of-Life University

Learn about a beautiful new book that explores how death teaches us, through many varied experiences of loss, how to truly live.

My guest Barbara Becker is an interfaith minister and a strategic communications consultant specializing in strengthening the voice of the non-profit community, working with the United Nations, Human Rights First, the Ms. Foundation for Women, and the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. She is also the author of the book Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind and she shares the important lessons she has learned from death and loss throughout her life. Learn more about her work at the website:

www.barbarabecker.com

Get the book here

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

• What inspired Barbara to become an interfaith minister and to volunteer in hospice
• How her work in hospice informed her own feelings about death
• What is “heartwood” and why it is a fitting title for the book
• How Barbara turned to her own book for guidance when she faced a health crisis of her own
• The one question we should ask ourselves to live a more purposeful life
• What we can learn about coping with death and grief from religious traditions outside of our own
• Advice to help family caregivers cope with caring for loved ones with Alzheimer’s
• How to cope with the first holiday season while grieving the death of a loved one

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