My life, whether through work, learning or creative projects, has brought me into contact with an extraordinary range of people who live close to death.

Some encounter it through their work as end of life doulas or companions, funeral professionals, healthcare workers, celebrants or therapists. Others arrive through lived experience, holding a deep personal commitment to death awareness as a value and way of living.

Again and again, one shared need has emerged.

I had an experience recently that has stayed with me.

I offered a simple creative activity in a small group of women I know well. It involved coloured paper, scissors, glue sticks, and an invitation to create a portrait of another person from our group based purely on “vibes”…what this person inspires through colours, shapes and textures. A playful attempt to reflect how we experience one another beyond physical appearance.

For some, it was joyful and unexpectedly moving. As often happens, people began cautiously, thinking their way through the task, before something softened and creativity took over.

An attempt to make sense of what does not make sense.

I get the impression there are a lot of people who are not intentionally choosing the lives they are living. They are responding to what is in front of them: deadlines, responsibilities, news headlines, financial pressure, social or family expectations. Life becomes a series of reactions rather than a series of conscious decisions. And over time, a quiet misalignment sets in. It is hard to name, but it can feel like being in a constant struggle with yourself, a misalignment.

This is rarely a motivation problem, or a time management problem. I think it is often a values problem.

There’s a quiet revolution taking root, not in corporate boardrooms or our government’s offices (sadly!) but in gardens, art studios, neighbourhood parks and community projects. It’s a revolution that begins with small acts of care and imagination, where people are daring to envision a world that prioritises life, in all its forms, over profit.

I’ve been struck in recent years by the lack of care many of us hold for one another. Whether it’s central government continually targeting the most vulnerable in society with their never ending austerity-led cuts or the rampant consumerism that’s overtaking every aspect of our lives, we are fast losing the sense of community upon which we used to rely to help us out in our time of need.

Have you noticed how the concept of connection has gradually become a lost art form since the pandemic? So many of us got used to not leaving the comfort of our homes during those long, uncertain lockdowns; and now, five years on, it seems fewer and fewer people are gathering, sharing, or simply being together in the ways we once took for granted.