This photo is of me on a sponsored walk for St Wilfred’s Hospice in Eastbourne. I am wearing jeans and a top from the lovely Sharron Davies of “Free Your Wardrobe” (the lovely friend who is inviting people over to give them clothes she no longer wears). She is wanting to create a movement where we personally encourage each other to share our pre-loved clothes. For me it was deeply therapeutic as I never wear jeans or separates (only dresses) and it was like stepping into a new world trying on different outfits and ways of being.
The sponsored walk was a six-mile walk across the Eastbourne coast for the Hospice. We carried lanterns and It was very moving as people put poems and photos of their loved ones who had died. We arrived at the Italian gardens, which were magically lit up with purple and green uplighting and lifted with live ambient music. It felt very sacred as we put the lanterns down and remembered our loved ones and the loved ones of others.
It was a night with an amazing full moon and an incredible mix of the beautiful sea and the loving honouring of those who have passed. Somehow the mixture of love, death and natural beauty gave me such gratitude for life and for the love of those who have gone before me.
A friend told me about creating a living will for you to carry on your person. This may sound a bit morbid but, as Alan Watts said once, when we contemplate death an incredible creativity and embracing of life can emerge. My good friend who works at the Hospice also said “For a place that is all about death, it is incredibly alive!” The Living Will is a document spelling out how you wish to live and die mentally, spiritually, mentally and physically. This would guide medical professionals about whether you would wish to be resuscitated, tell your loved ones about how you might wished to be cared for and buried/cremated and how you would like to live for the end of your days. It is worth taking time to think this through and to create a piece you are happy with and can share with your close folk, a medical professional and maybe a legal person.
Wishing you well and thank you for being part of my journey of creativity.
Cate x
