#130- DGB Newsletter - November 2025 | | |
Nov. 1 - Portland, OR.
Honoring and Remembering
Our Loved Ones
See story below
------------------------------------
FREE ONLINE WORKSHOP!
Nov. 20 - Online
Mindfulness,
Non-Violent Communication
and MAGA
See story below
----------------------------------
Dec. 7 - Online
Managing Loss and Grief
During the Holiday Season
with Dr. Terri Daniel
and Stephen Berkley
See story below
----------------------------------
Nov 11 - Dec 16 - ONLINE
Religious Trauma
Recovery Group
Call 213-878-4736
or email for details
----------------------------------
Dec. 10 - Sturbridge, MA - LIVE
Mediumship Readings
with Suzane Northrop
and Thomas John
| |  | |
The Elephant in the Room
This morning I had the honor of being interviewed by a reporter from Medline about end-of-life conversations. The story was targeted to doctors (hospitalists in particular) about how to have EOL conversations with patients and their families. I realized during the interview that I should dedicate this month's newsletter to that topic, since many of us will be with family during the holiday season, which could present a perfect opportunity to begin an EOL conversation.
Instead of pontificating in this column, I've shared some resources below, but I do want to emphasize a couple of key points here:
1. Cultural sensitivity - brutal honesty is not always appropriate.
2. Doctors are not generally well-trained in EOL care, and aren't necessarily the best source for EOL advice.
3. Hospice consultations are free and no-obligation. Call a local hospice to seek information and education.
Dr. Terri Daniel, CT, FFGT
Clinical Chaplaincy, End-of-Life Educator
Bereavement and Trauma Support
office@deathgriefandbelief.com
| | | |
END-OF-LIFE, AFTERLIFE AND BEREAVEMENT
| | What is Death Positivity? | | "Death can be an uncomfortable subject. It is generally not a topic to bring up easily, even among close friends and family. It may make you feel anxious, uncertain, or scared. Feeling this way is completely valid. However, letting yourself think and talk about death can help relieve fears you may have about it. This can bring you one step closer to acknowledging death as merely being the final phase of life. This acceptance is at the center of the Death Positivity Movement." READ MORE... | | End-of-Life Conversations | |
"Far too often, families are unclear about their loved one’s end-of-life preferences and goals. This can delay the start of hospice care until the patient is just days or hours from dying. Starting the conversation early can prevent your loved one from experiencing unwanted, unsuccessful care and hospitalizations.
Remember that your loved one’s personal and cultural history, including their faith beliefs, may influence care decisions. More conversations may be needed as their health status, priorities, and circumstances change." READ MORE...
| The Conversation Starter Guide | | "The Conversation Project wants to help everyone talk about their wishes for care through the end of life, so those wishes can be understood and respected. We created this guide to help you start a conversation so you can have a say in your health care — today and tomorrow." READ MORE... | | ICE Threatens Religious Freedom | | |
"Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.
“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.” READ MORE...
| | Conversion Therapy is ‘a Colonizing Effort’ | | "Last December, the evangelical organization Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit challenging Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy, claiming that it violates freedom of speech. Conversion therapy, or the fraudulent practice of trying to change a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression through physically and psychologically abusive methods, still remains legal in 18 states, not including states with partial bans or states whose bans are tied up in the courts." READ MORE... | | Rapture Theology and Racial Reckoning | |
"Hysteria and mockery rained down in equal measure after a South African pastor proclaimed Tuesday (Sept. 23) as the day of the rapture, a reference to the doctrine that Jesus will suddenly cause millions of Christians to vanish, triggering the final countdown to Judgment Day.
On social media, “#RaptureTok” showed believers selling their cars before the great departure. Others made jokes about Jesus’ punctuality. READ MORE...
| | | |
Religious Freedom for
Psychedelic Users
| "The recent controversy over an Episcopal priest who was dismissed for promoting psychedelics for spiritual awakening raises urgent questions about how organized religion in America relates to psychedelics. The debate has focused on the safety of these drugs and church authority and doctrine, while ignoring Indigenous Americans’ long history with such medicines and the church’s long, painful history of suppressing them." READ MORE... | | | |
WORKSHOPS, CLASSES
AND PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
| | |
Our FREE Holiday Season Workshop
Mindfulness, Non-Violent Communication
and MAGA
Family Gathering for the Holidays?
Psychologists and Spiritual Teachers Share Strategies
for Staying Calm and Promoting Peace
| |
THIS IS A FREE WORKSHOP
(you'll be invited to make an optional donation with your registration)
We realize it's only September, but it's never soon to start preparing to deal with difficult family dynamics during the holiday season, especially during these fraught political times.
If the folks around your holiday table this year will be on opposite ends of the political spectrum, sparks may start to fly, and if they do, you'll need powerful tools to keep conflagrations from becoming wildfires.
Drawing on teachings from clinical sociology, conflict resolution and diverse spiritual practices, this mini workshop can help you navigate contentious conversations.
Online - Thursday Nov. 20, 2025
9 am - 2 pm PACIFIC time
DETAILS AND REGISTRATION HERE
There is no charge to attend this event.
Four CE credit hours available for a fee.
| |
Managing Loss and Grief
During the Holiday Season
An Online Experiential Workshop
Saturday Dec. 7, 2025
10 am - 1 pm Pacific
| |
If you are mourning the death of a loved one or a loss of any kind, your grief can be more difficult and your sadness more pronounced during the Winter holidays. We all respond to loss in different ways, and styles of coping can span a vast spectrum. Some choose to skip the holidays altogether, abandoning traditional customs that are painful reminders of holidays past. Others continue -- and enhance -- those traditions by including departed loved ones in new rituals designed to bring their presence into the festivities.
In this workshop we will explore a variety of experiential tools for working with loss, trauma, grieving in community and spiritual practices for deep inner work. These include guided meditation, art therapy processes and sacred ceremony for moving the “stuck” energy of grief out of our bodies and into a more spacious, more ventilated emotional landscape.
DETAILS AND REGISTRATION HERE
| |
Honoring and Remembering Our Loved Ones:
A Community Celebration
Portland, OR. Nov. 1
| | |
If you find the holiday season to be especially difficult after the loss of your loved one, you are not alone. It can be a sad and triggering time of year, but it can also bring hope for joy and healing.
One of the most helpful things we can do to navigate the grief journey is to connect with a supportive community to share memories and creative, meaningful rituals for restoration. And it is in that spirit that we invite you to join us for a unique memorial event in which we will celebrate the lives of our loved ones, and the new lives we are creating as we move forward in our healing.
Saturday, Nov 1, 2025
10 am – Noon
6600 SW 92nd Ave, # 230
- Portland, OR.
MAP
Join us for music, readings, ceremony and refreshments.
Friends and family welcome!
TO RSVP:
Click HERE or call 971-415-0100
| | |
Comments, complaints or kudos about our content?
Let us know us about what you think!
We now have a feedback form where you can share your opinions about what you've read here, and we would love to hear from you! You can find the form HERE. We may even publish your comment in an upcoming newsletter (anonymously, unless you choose to include your name)
| | Become a Newsletter Sponsor | | Our newsletter is now available on a limited basis to one advertiser per month who'd like to promote a product or service to our email list of 15,000 subscribers and 25,000 Facebook followers. Our audience is deeply interested in the topics we address here, so if it seems like a good audience for you, submit your information by filling out THIS FORM (we will be selective about the products and services we promote). Your ad or article will appear in this spot for $150 per issue. | | |
You are receiving this newsletter because you signed up for our email list
either via one of our websites, a workshop, or one of our online groups.
We don't share email addresses, nor do we acquire them from other sources.
| | | | |
