This is one to dip in and out of, as Rosalind suggests. It’s philosophical, wise and spiritual. The 60 contributors share just a page or so of their ideas.

Some say things in a new way. For example, Jennifer Briscoe-Hough: “I know that being able to put my hands on the dead body of someone I love helps my body understand that they have gone – it’s a cellular communication.” Wow!

And then: “I was with her (her mother) when she died and it was like having a hurricane blow through me.It rearranged me, which I think must be the job of this enormous life.”

Others validate what we already know, such as Carol Kamormy: “At the end of a long career (in palliative care) and from personal experience (her own illnesses), I believe that compassion is the most important quality when caring for people at the end of life.”

Isn’t it so good to be reminded.

Here at Good Grief we have come across another good read about how the fear of death has shaped society.

Interested?

See Mortals, How the fear of death shaped human society by award winning Australian academic Rachel Menzies and her father Ross Menzies, reviewed in The Australian by Antonella Gambotto-Burke.