What if you knew the exact moment you were going to die; would that knowledge change the way you live today?

Meet Mark Dowie, Author of “Judith Letting Go,” a book that tells the story of the beautiful friendship between him and Judith Tannenbaum, a poet who, after being diagnosed with an incurable disease that caused her a lot of pain, decided to transition on her own terms.

In this episode, Mark shares details of his intimate experience with Judith and the deeply transformative experience of knowing when and where she would die. Mark is an Investigative Historian, a Journalist, one of the Founding Members of the Mesa Refuge board, a former publisher and editor of Mother Jones magazine, and the former editor-at-large of InterNation.

Throughout this episode, you’ll also hear about the revolutionizing concept of Death Cafe, where people gather to enjoy coffee, eat cake, and discuss death. Mark also shares his thoughts on the importance of confronting mortality as a way to enrich life, explore end-of-life options, and use those skills to provide comfort and reduce the fear of the inevitable.

Tune in and listen to episode 260 of Grief and Happiness, and discover how one man’s profound friendship with a terminally ill poet transformed his understanding of life and death.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• About Mark, Judith, and the world’s smallest Death Cafe (4:10)
• How Death Cafes can expand people’s perception of transitioning (6:40)
• How did Mark and Judith’s friendship start (7:50)
• About different approaches to end-of-life celebrations (11:00)
• Why Judith’s death wasn’t suicide (14:40)
• Death can teach us more about life than life itself (21:40)

Connect with Mark Dowie:

• Book: Mark Dowie – Judith Letting Go: Six Months in the World’s Smallest Death Cafe
• Get Mark Dowie’s books

Let’s Connect:

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Pinterest
• The Grief and Happiness Alliance
• Book: Emily Thiroux Threatt – Loving and Living Your Way Through Grief

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Emily Thiroux Threatt Podcast Host, Facilitator, Author

Having gone through the experience of the deaths of so many loved ones, I have learned to face life with love, optimism, and joy.

I have kept journals and written to express myself most of my life which led me to a career of teaching writing and writing books. I naturally turned to writing to help deal with my grief, then I discovered I could use writing to help friends deal with grief, too.

In contemplating how I could best help the grieving people I was working with, my Ignite moment came when realized the importance of helping people understand the importance of happiness and how they could grieve and be happy at the same time.

To share my message, I host the Grief and Happiness podcast, I wrote the book Loving and Living Your Way Though Grief, I facilitate weekly meetings of the Grief and Happiness Alliance, I founded the Grief and Happiness nonprofit foundation, I publish a weekly newsletter and blog, and my new book, The Grief and Happiness Handbook is coming out soon.