Death Cafe Brings Life to the End of Life

death cafe, end of life discussionOK I never heard of a Death Cafe until I read my local newspaper here in Charlotte. At a Death Cafe people, often strangers, gather to eat cake, drink tea and discuss death. In essence by talking about death, the Death Cafe brings a new life to the end of life discussion. And that is something we do need to talk about these days. Death Cafes are modeled have been active in Europe for several years. The objective of Death Cafe is ‘to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives’. The organizeråÊ uses donations to purchase foods and leads an icebreaker. Once started, the conversation guides itself. A recent article in the Huffington Post notes that:åÊ “Some people want to talk about creating wills and advance medical directives, such as “do not resuscitate” orders. Others prefer to share near-death experiences and communicating with the dead. And there’s often the question of what happens after death — is there a heaven or hell? Different views on death held by religious traditions also commonly arise.Our Death Cafes are discussions about death that are always offered.” According to their web site, Death Cafe has offered around 300 Death Cafes to over 3,000 participants in Europe, North America and Australasia. Death Cafe has no staff and is run on a purely voluntary basis. Find one near you!