Radiantly Dreaming Our Dying
Our sleeping dreams are connected to our waking visions and this is what empowers us to make conscious change in our world. Dreaming and Dying are similar. My dream is to bring sacred awareness and beauty to the process of death and dying. We don't have to die the deaths that are removed from beauty and the sacred. As my dear friend Elysabeth says, "Dreams are like Death. We don't know a lot about them and sometimes we are afraid to look at them." Death is a realm we may think we know something about but in reality we do not. We can, though, use our creative life to shine light in this mysterious realm and create dreams that can lift the consciousness in our society around how we die—to have better deaths.
Working with the children of dying parents or the lovers, spouses, friends or siblings of the dying, offers a profound opportunity for connection, a sense of continuity beyond the mortal body that comforts and heals, and techniques that allow for a deeper, richer communion with the person while they are still alive.
After death, a dream visitation with the deceased can be among the most satisfying and powerful experiences available to surviving friends and lovers. A friend of mine with whom I worked wrote me thus: "You sensitized me to the awesome power of dreams, and after my beloved father's death, I waited patiently for the contact. Six months into my grieving, I dreamed that I phoned the house he'd once lived in with my mother, and to my astonishment, he picked up. "Dad?" I cried, disbelieving. A long silence ensued, broken only the static of a very long-distance connection. Finally, in a high, thin voice, he spoke: "I'm feeling very detached," he said. I awoke in the middle of the night with adrenaline roaring in my body, elated and deeply gratified to have touched the hem of his retreating garment before he went fully over to the other side. The sensation, after the adrenaline rush subsided, was one of intense peace. Thank you, Tarron, for giving me the tools and courage to go looking for this beautiful closure."
Tarron's love of the exploration of Dreaming Our Dying influenced the development of her company, ElderSpa Innovations, www.elderspa.com ElderSpa Innovations was Tarron's response to the glaring absence of conversations and healthy vision for end of life, a heart-breaking awakening gleaned during her consulting and training with a national leaders in long term care.
ElderSpa Innovations trains caregivers in spiritual and emotional care for end of life using Tarron's process tool, "Vision Mapping for End of life". This tool for discovering our dreams and wishes for a good death in all domains of life, is published in the Colorado Health Care Association’s handbook, “Best Practices for End of Life Care in Long Term Care Communities.” (link to pdf)
To support the process of Dreaming Our Dying, Tarron created “Living Treasures Scrapbook” a collection of multi-media tools which hosts inspirational activities for families and healthcare professionals. These include “A Good Death” (link to video) and “Staff Training for End of life Care.”(link to video).
Her passion for improving end of life care for seniors has lead to speaking engagements at many national health care conferences. She has been featured with the country’s leading nursing home reform organization, the Pioneer Network as well as at annual conferences on “Resident Centered End of Life Care” at the Colorado Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and Life Care Services. Her work for Sandy River Health Systems and Piñon Management, both leading long term care management companies, resulted in a groundbreaking best practices and preparation of staffs to offer the finest in compassionate resident-centered care at end of life.
Her dream is to open ElderSpa Retreat Centers, healing environments which offer irresistible experiences and care for living the “Best Three Months of Life.” elderspa.com
She is currently designing the first Caritas End of Life Care Certificate training for non-medical caregivers in conjunction with The Watson Caring Science Institute of Boulder, Colorado watsoncaringscienceinstitute.com