09/25/2026
Expected Death ~
When someone dies,
the first thing to do is nothing.
Don't run out and call the nurse.
Don't pick up the phone.
Take a deep breath and be present to the magnitude of the moment.
There's a grace to being at the bedside of someone you love as they make their transition out of this world.
At the moment they take their last breath, there's an incredible sacredness in the space.
The veil between the worlds opens.
You can almost feel the spirit leave the body.
Some cultures even open a window symbolizing that the spirit is about to leave,
or has left.
We're so unprepared and untrained in how to deal with death
that sometimes a kind of panic response kicks in.
"They're dead!"
We knew they were going to die, so their being dead is not a surprise.
It's not a problem to be solved. It's very sad,
but it's not cause to panic.
If anything, their death is cause to take a deep breath, to stop,
and be really present to what's happening.
If you're at home,
maybe put on the kettle and make a cup of tea.
Sit at the bedside
and just be present to the experience in the room.
What's happening for you?
What might be happening for them?
What other presences are here that might be supporting them on their way?
Tune into all the beauty and magic and the mystery.
Pausing gives your soul a chance to adjust,
because no matter how prepared we are, a death is still a shock.
If we kick right into "do" mode, and call 911, or call the hospice, we never get a chance
to absorb the enormity of the event.
Give yourself five minutes or 10 minutes, or 15 minutes just to be.
You'll never get that time back again if you don't take it now.
After that, do the smallest thing you can.
Call the one person who needs to be called.
Engage whatever systems need to be engaged, but engage them at the very most minimal level.
Move really, really, really, slowly, because this is a period where it's easy for body and soul to get separated.
Our bodies can gallop forwards, but sometimes our souls haven't caught up.
If you have an opportunity to be quiet and be present,
take it.
Accept and acclimatize and adjust to what's happening.
Then, as the train starts rolling, and all the things that happen after a death kick in, you'll be better prepared.
You won't get a chance to catch your breath later on. You need to do it now.
Stay with the body as long as you can.
There is no need to rush to call the funeral home.
When the funeral home arrives, don't panic.
They may ask you to leave the room as they are preparing the body to leave the space. You are not required to do this.
There is nothing scary about this process.
If you stay with your loved one, they will treat the body with the most care and respect.
If you want to follow your loved one to its next destination, that is your right You can stay close until you can no longer stay close.
You will have given yourself more time as the void begins to sink in.
You will know exactly where the body has gone for the next step of its departure.
This will allow you to remove the anxious part of the mystery.
Being present in the moments after death is an incredible gift to yourself, it's a gift to the people you're with, and it's a gift to the person who's just died. They're just a hair's breath away. They're just starting their new journey in the world without a body. If you keep a calm space around their body, and in the room, they're launched in a more beautiful way. It's a service to both sides of the veil.
After death.
When someone you love dies,, you don't lose them all at once. You lose little parts at a time, as slowly as the mail stops coming to their house in their name, and their scent fades from the pillows and the clothes in their closet. There is no specific end to this. It is different for everyone. Just about the time you may have thought you have said goodbye to each missing part, along may come another significant one. This is what it is like to lose someone you love.
Credit for the words
~ Sarah Kerr,
Ritual Healing Practitioner and Death Doula.
The Rev'd Dr. Suzi Robertson, Episcopal Priest and Pastor. Paraphrase from
John Irving's, "A Prayer For Owen Meany."