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30 Questions About Death, Dying, and Your Legacy

July 25, 2023January 9, 2020 by Daniel Szczesniak

Questions about death are a normal, healthy part of living well. While you may have questions about the physical, physiological, and psychological aspects of dying, those aren’t the questions you’ll find here. And while I’m sure you have questions about the afterlife, philosophy, and religion, we’re not trying to provide answers.

Instead, these questions are designed to help you think about your legacy and what it means to die well.

Below we’ve curated 30 or so open-ended questions to get you thinking about death and the meaning of your life.

Take your time and think about each one. Feel free to print them out and write your answers down. This practice can be for your own personal enrichment or as a way to start organizing your thoughts for your end-of-life planning.

Why Christians Should Become Death Doulas

October 31, 2024October 10, 2019 by Daniel Szczesniak

Christians should consider training and serving as death doulas.

“Death” is probably the last word you would expect to find paired with “doula.” And no, this isn’t some sort of spiritual metaphor; it’s an actual job in a young but rapidly growing field. Let me explain.

10 Meaningful Legacy Project Ideas

October 31, 2024April 30, 2019 by Daniel Szczesniak

What do you want your legacy to be? Leaving a legacy to your children and family is an important consideration. As you make arrangements for the end of your life, you will be consulting a lawyer, writing a will, signing advance directives, planning the funeral, and more.

But what does all of it mean?

This is where you may want to consider a legacy project as a way to help tell the story and meaning of your life.

Inurnment Definition & Everything Else You Need to Know

July 25, 2023April 2, 2019 by Daniel Szczesniak

What is inurnment? Inurnment is simply the act of placing cremated remains into a container to store or bury them.

Cremated remains or “ashes” are typically inurned in a plastic or cardboard container and given to the family. The family can then purchase a permanent cremation urn and transfer the remains into the new urn.

In this fairly typical scenario, inurnment happened twice. Both times the ashes were put into a container (first into the temporary urn, then into the permanent urn), the ashes were inurned.

That’s the simple, easy answer. But if you are like most people, this is the first time you’ve dealt with body disposition and you probably have many more questions about the process.

20 Reasons Why People Are Choosing Cremation

October 31, 2024March 30, 2019 by Daniel Szczesniak

More and more people are choosing cremation as a final disposition method.

Cremation is on the rise, and there are many factors involved in this trend – from cost to claustrophobia, from religious considerations to the increasing personalization of funerals, there are not only broad trends but also uniquely specific reasons why more and more people choose cremation over burial.

Here are five general, broad-brush reasons why people are choosing cremation, followed by specific comments from actual people on why they have decided to go with cremation.

Applying the doula approach to end-of-life care

What is a Death Doula? (Or “End-of-Life Doula”?)

February 14, 2024September 24, 2018 by Daniel Szczesniak

What is a death doula? Or, what is an end-of-life doula? In this article we will detail who they are and how they can help in your final days (or those of a loved one).

Documents to gather when someone you love has died

What papers do you need when someone dies?

October 31, 2024April 9, 2018 by Daniel Szczesniak

If you are the spouse or executor of the estate of a person who has passed away, there are many documents you will need to work through. What papers do you actually need?

Most will be financial statements, insurance and membership papers, and legal papers that already exist. These you will need to find. Others you will need to create.

Note that in the digital age, some of these affairs can be arranged completely online using digital documents and accounts. Even so, there will still be many copies and forms you will physically need to handle. Here is the list of papers you need when someone dies.

Avoid These 10 Common Funeral Scams

October 31, 2024January 2, 2018 by Daniel Szczesniak

Want to avoid falling prey to the most common funeral scams? Read on.

First, however, we can’t make it clear enough that although the industry has its share of funeral scams and unsavory charlatans, most funeral professionals do what they do because they care about people and will treat you right.

Tips on doing the deceased’s makeup for a home funeral

July 25, 2023May 29, 2017 by Daniel Szczesniak

If you’re choosing to do a home funeral, you will want to make the deceased look as natural as possible. Here, we detail the basics on how to apply makeup to a dead person, then provide a range of tips doing the deceased’s makeup for a home funeral.

Helpful List of Accounts to Cancel When a Loved One Dies

July 25, 2023March 20, 2017 by Daniel Szczesniak

When a loved one dies, someone needs to go through and cancel or change the name on their various accounts. If you’re reading this article, chances are this duty has fallen to you.

14 Questions to Ask the Funeral Home About Cremation

October 31, 2024January 5, 2015 by Daniel Szczesniak

Are you considering cremation, but aren’t even sure what questions to ask?

If you think you may choose cremation as the disposition method in your or a loved one’s final disposition, it’s important to know some basic information about the cremation process. There are many options, and this isn’t a topic we think about every day.

We’re here to help you get an idea of what options are available, what issues are important to you, and what services and pitfalls you should avoid.

Here are the questions to ask the funeral home about cremation.

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