Anamaria Aristizabal

Death as Teacher

In our Re-Vision Chats series, Catalina invites us to see death - both our loved ones’ death and our own death - as an opportunity to learn to let go. We can see the cataclysms in our life as small deaths that teach us that special art of letting go. This is not an easy process, and we should not do it alone. Catalina shares an extraordinary story of how she became an end of life doula and consultant. How she carries out this endeavor is a helpful signal of the type of support we need at those times of closure and ending and small deaths we undergo.

Catalina invites us to hear the signals of life and learn to stop. She took a yearlong sabbatical after the death of a dear relative, to reconsider where her life was going. That’s when she started to work with the Re-Vision methodologies. Now she uses aspects of the methodology for the people she works with at their end of life. This includes a life review, a recollection of the stories and legacy they leave behind. It is a set of steps that help us honor the past and harvest the many lessons and contributions in a way that fills our souls.

Catalina speaks of vulnerability as the essential condition for having the right conversations at the time of our one or many deaths. We realized that this Pandemic makes us all more vulnerable, and thus more human. This is a time to listen deeply and attune to what is needed, instead of rescuing the other or oneself into “positive thinking”. Letting go of what no longer is, allows us a full rebirth of the new expression that our life wants to take. It takes a very special kind of community to allow for this. This is what we aspire at Re-Vision Academy: to hold space for our many deaths and rebirths, and have the kind of listening and conversation that invokes the new expression of ourselves into being.  Hear the full conversation here: https://www.re-vision.academy/course/re-vision-chats

Exercise:
Ask yourself what you are needing to let go at this time.
Then revisit key moments of your life (childhood, adolescence, maternity/paternity (if applies), and retirement (if applies), or another important milestone. And describe: 1) your personality and priorities, 2) your relationships 3) your body 4) your belongings. Notice the big changes and how you moved from one identity to another.

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