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Our culture insists that dying is the worst thing that can happen. But what if, instead of turning away, we leaned in and became more intimate with the process?

THE LIVING RESOURCE PROJECT

The many faces & hearts supporting the end of life journey.

The Living Resource Project is a compassionate communities initiative that shares the voices of end of life practitioners and companions through a series of heartfelt interviews. This project shines a light on caring and creative services, increasing awareness of the options available for support on the end of life journey.

When it comes to living and dying, we can take inspiration from the natural world and notice that all ecosystems involve species that depend on each other for health. Wellbeing does not exist in isolation; it is nurtured by relationships. In these times in the global North, we live in a lonely culture, one that values individualism. Many of us are unsure of how to truly connect with others, and because of this we often lack a sense of belonging.

May this project gently remind us that we already have what it takes to show up for the dying and the grieving among us, and that we all need each other on this journey of life through death.

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Paul Evered

Valley Walker

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Nellie Gossen

Artist & Death Doula

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Angela Fama

Interdisciplinary Artist, Creator/Facilitator of Death Conversation Game

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Karla Kerr

Holistic Funeral Director

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Walking Through the Valley: Conversations on Death & Grief with Paul Evered

In this heartfelt and profound episode of the Living Resource Project, join us as we sit down with Paul Evered, a friend and pioneer in shifting the cultural narratives around death and grief. Paul shares his role as the 'Valley Walker,' guiding people through their journeys of grief and dying, emphasizing the importance of mindful listening and maintaining the sacredness of each moment. Discover Paul's path from pastoring to embracing his calling in community death care, and learn valuable insights into how we can all meet death with more acceptance and grace.

 

Towards the end, we'll delve into the practice of gratitude and explore how silence can deepen our connection with each other. This episode is a beautiful reminder of the profound compassion and humanity needed in times of life's greatest transitions.

Paul Evered

Valley Walker

If there was one thing that you would like the dying & their people to know, what would it be?

“Plan what you can down to the very last detail and always eave room for joy to prevail in the planning and the parting."
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Endwell Updates

If you'd like to receive notifications when new interviews are shared, please join our mailing list for Endwell updates.

Wayfinder Book

The Nature of the Journey
BOOK & COURSE

Fear often overwhelms people when someone they care about is diagnosed with a life-limiting illness. This insightful guide highlights what we know about dying; the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual signposts on the end of life journey. It also invites readers to wonder together about what we don’t know.

Book Available

Fall 2025

Course Start Date

Winter 2025

The Nature of the Journey

A Guide to Companioning Your Person on the End of Life Journey

by Tracy Chalmers

Imagine guiding your person through their final journey with grace, compassion, and presence. The Nature of the Journey by Tracy Chalmers is your heartfelt guide for this deeply personal experience. Crafted with the care of a cherished travel guide, Chalmers offers a nature-based approach to enhance the end-of-life journey, inspiring opportunities for moments of meaning, connection, presence, and pleasure.

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A self-guided online course by the same name will accompany the book, providing readers with another opportunity to soften into connection through guided exercises and monthly virtual gatherings — offering an opportunity to create a new story about death, together. 

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Enjoying the Nature

If I’m going to die, the best way to prepare is to quiet my mind and open my heart.

If I’m going to live, the best way to prepare is to quiet my mind and open my heart.”

― Ram Dass

Guided Meditations

GUIDED MEDITATIONS

From My Heart to Yours

Tracy offers a number of meditations suitable for people who are seeking more peace, acceptance, and healing. These gentle yet powerful contemplations are from Stephen Levine’s book A Year to Live. Tracy offers these mediations to her clients and participants in her workshops and trainings to support living well and dying well.

Soft Belly Breathing MeditationTracy Chalmers
00:00 / 11:57

Breathe deeply and focus on the sensation of your belly softening. Soft belly meditation is a practice to work with fear. It invites you to let go of holding. Use this practice alone or as a tool to bring you to a grounded, relaxed state before completing the other meditations.

Gratitude MeditationTracy Chalmers
00:00 / 14:46

This is an essential gratitude contemplation for good times and bad. This meditation encourages you to bring to mind things you are grateful for, one by one. Let yourself be overcome with love and appreciation for all that you have experienced.

Forgiveness MeditationTracy Chalmers
00:00 / 20:06

This gentle forgiveness meditation invites you to call up the people toward whom you feel resentment, when you feel ready. It guides you to practice sending them forgiveness, and exploring what pain they must have been feeling when they caused you pain. This powerful meditation also leads you to imagine receiving forgiveness from people whom you have wronged and ends with an invitation for you to forgive yourself.

Fear Contemplation MeditationTracy Chalmers
00:00 / 10:08

Our fear of fear feeds our fear. Is there a way to soften into fear? This meditation guides you to get curious about fear so that you can understand it better. When you become more familiar with how your mind and body respond to fear you will be able to notice fear as soon as it begins to manifest and choose how you respond to the experience.

Pleasures of Presence MeditationTracy Chalmers
00:00 / 19:47

Here is a taste of Forest Therapy. Tracy has recorded Pleasures of Presence, a meditation used during forest therapy experiences that invites participants to slow down and tune into the sensory elements in the environment. You can practice this meditation anywhere - in a forest, by an ocean, a river, a lake, a desert, a bench at your neighbourhood park, near a tree, on a deck, or with a houseplant. I wonder what you are noticing?

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