Options for funeral and burials

Most people wake up each day and make a few key decisions so the day goes smoothly. ey usually think… What will I accomplish today? What will I wear or eat today? Typically, the average person also has various goals they want to accomplish … getting a good job, buying a house, creating a family, staying healthy and saving money for retirement.

Living And Aging Well

Rarely do you nd a person with a written goal of intentionally seeking out their nal resting place and outlining their obituary or Celebra- tion of Life ceremony. It is a rare individual who does the hard work of soul-searching their thoughts and beliefs about their own mortality. Most of us don’t want to think about that because it’s too sad. But as Benjamin Franklin said, “…in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

Most end-of-life caregivers will tell you the best gift you can give yourself and your family is the gift of pre-planning. If nances are tight, at a minimum, make some decisions so your family and friends will know your wishes. ere is a wonderful guide called “Five Wishes” that serves as a legal document for end-of-life decisions. Most hospices, funeral homes and cemeteries have some version of the types of questions outlined in the “Five Wishes” document and you can nd it online, too. e last wish of the “Five Wishes” discusses “What I want my loved ones to know.” is section addresses the emotional realm, as well as physical placement of one’s body after passing. Some key decisions include … How do I want to be remembered? Do I want to be buried or cremated? Do I want to be near relatives? Do I want to be placed somewhere close to my family so it’s convenient for them to visit? Do I want my ashes to be placed at sea or scattered out of an airplane or in a cemetery? Do I want a permanent monument engraved? e Seniors’ Council of Douglas County serves to advocate for and engage older adults. Meetings are free and open to the public. Our signature daylong educational event, Vintage and Vibrant, is ursday, Sept. 28 at the Parker Arts, Culture, and Events Center (PACE) in Parker. For upto-date information about Seniors’ Council visit Facebook and our website www.douglas.co.us. running in shorter races and giving up the long runs, her response was that she would never allow herself to enter the comfort zone ever again. In her mind she created an image of a “Do Not Enter” sign followed by “ e Comfort Zone.”

Determining key end-of-life decisions ahead of time will set you free from worry, provide for a smooth transition, and be a gift of peace of mind for your family and friends.

At the Aug. 3, 2023 Seniors’ Council of Douglas County meeting, our host from Seven Stones Cemetery and Botanic Gardens, Becky Holm, will discuss pre-planning, the di erent cemetery options available in Colorado and the beautiful and serene environment at Seven Stones. e meeting is scheduled outdoors from 10-11:30 a.m. at Seven Stones, located at 9635 N. Rampart Range Road in LIttleton.

For many of us we have reached some type of pinnacle or achieved a sought-after goal only to nd ourselves slowly backsliding and reentering our former comfort zone. We reach a certain level of success and then allow ourselves to get comfortable there instead of wondering what we could do if we pressed ourselves a little harder, taking a new or di erent path, and maybe even taking a little risk. It’s like breaking free from one comfort zone only to enter another comfort zone.

If we are on a path of personal or professional growth, we might all do well to have that same mental image top of mind, “Do Not Enter e Comfort Zone.” Whether it’s a physical achievement we are seeking, a business breakthrough, quitting a bad habit, starting a new and positive habit, or maybe setting our sights on breaking the company sales records, once we break free from what has been holding us back, leaving our comfort zone, we need to commit to never going back or settling ever again.

Here is something to watch out for, it’s called the neutral zone. It’s that place where we have decided to break free from our comfort zone but haven’t taken any action yet. Something is still holding us back. Maybe we haven’t fully committed to where it is that we want to go. Maybe we have some head trash that’s getting in our way. Whatever it is, it has us stuck in the neutral zone. How do we get unstuck? We take the rst step in the pursuit of our new goals and dreams. We don’t have to go beyond that, we are not going to go from running a 10K to running a marathon, but we are going to take the rst step and maybe run an extra half mile, and then each day slowly build to our ultimate goal.

Taking that rst step does something psychologically that gets us moving in the right direction. For some of us, we get caught up in all the rest of the steps and it paralyzes us to the point where we do not take any step at all. A comfort zone surrounded by a neutral zone creates a do-nothing zone. And as it has been said before, if we aren’t moving forward, we are more than likely moving backward. Zig Ziglar said it this way, “People who never take step one, can never possibly take step two.” meeting, I requested the board to consider a reduction in the mill levy amount they collect. I hope they take this seriously. anks again for your articles and opinions.

How about you, are there a rst step that you need to take? Is there a personal or professional goal or dream that you have had on your heart for a while? If so, have you asked yourself what is holding you back? As always, I would love to hear your story at gotonorton@ gmail.com, and when we can break free from our comfort zone, leave the neutral zone behind, and commit to never entering that comfort zone again, it really will be a better than good life.

Michael Norton is an author, a personal and professional coach, consultant, trainer, encourager and motivator of individuals and businesses, working with organizations and associations across multiple industries.

40% increase would be an additional $11M. On June 13th at their public

John Levene Littleton

BY LUKE ZARZECKI LZARZECKI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

The brain is overrated, according to Kadam Lucy James at the Kadampa Meditation Center.

“Have you ever felt peaceful in your head?” she asked.

She put her hands over her heart and said that’s where the mind is, adding that while the brain has conceptual reality, the mind exists in the heart, where we feel peace, love, joy and wisdom.

“If we can get into our heart, we automatically start to feel more peaceful,” she said.

James is temporarily living in Arvada and teaches meditation at the Kadampa Meditation Center. She started practicing about 41 years ago after she saw a “very peaceful person” in college.

“He was a student meditating on the end of his bed and I asked him what he was doing, because this was back in 1981, and meditation, no one had heard of back then,” she said.

Ever since, she’s been practicing and has taught all around the world, including England, San Francisco, New York City and now Denver. She hopes to one day achieve enlightenment, or in nite happiness and peace.

It takes a lot of hard work, but she said it’s the only thing where the more she does it, the happier she is.

It’s because, with meditation, the mind becomes naturally peaceful. Each person has a natural source of peace and happiness inside them, she said, and instead of seeking it elsewhere — relationships, ful lling jobs or material things — it’s already inside the body waiting to be found. e evidence lies in the random moments of peace and happiness everyone feels. It could be a torrential downpour and the mind is peaceful, settled and calm. e rst step to unlocking that potential and happiness is to breathe.

“What those moments show is that our mind is ne. And then what unsettles the mind is actually all our uncontrolled thinking,” she said.

Coming from the teachings of the Buddha, she compared the mind to a vast ocean. e waves are turbulent while below them is a vast, in nite, calm place. Waves of anxiety and negative emotions distort the brain but below those waves rests an incredible sanity.

“When our mind is settled, when we can let go of our troubled thoughts, and our turbulent thoughts, uncontrolled thoughts, then we naturally feel good. We naturally feel peaceful and we start to get a sense of our potential and who we really are, which is this person who has limitless potential, limitless happiness,” James said.

Focus on the nostrils

Carol O’Dowd, a Trauma and Transition Psychotherapist and Spiritual Counselor assists her clients by meeting them where they are and o ering them acceptance through breathing.

“If you focus on your breath, you cannot simultaneously focus on all your internal dialogue. It cannot be done. e human brain is not wired that way,” O’Dowd said.

It creates a space between the thoughts. e stress and anxiety stored in the body don’t go away, but the practice of noticing the emotions and putting them on pause to breathe helps calm the body down.

Breathing is a function of the body that automatically happens all the time. Focusing on that breath, O’Dowd compared it to a spectrum. What happens when the body stops breathing — death — is one end and the other is when the body pays attention to the breath — peace.

“It can be as simple as just experiencing that ow of air, and in and out of your nostrils. If you can place your attention there, that’s giving yourself a mini vacation,” she said.

O’Dowd encourages her clients to practice treating uncontrolled thoughts like a salesperson trying to sell them. Instead of buying, make them sit in the corner and return to them in 20 minutes after taking time to check in with the body.

It can also let go of stress. Pain, like what the ngers feel after working at a computer all day, can be a physical manifestation of stress. Holding on to that stress can lead to other health conditions.

“It’s not rocket science,” she said.

Escape to reality

James said achieving enlightenment is extremely di cult, and while the teachings she studied laid out di erent steps and pathways, she simpli ed it down to three. e rst is focusing on the breath to relax. e second is identifying delusions.

A delusion can be jealousy, greed, competitiveness or other unpleasant thoughts. Most of the time, those thoughts aren’t controlled by the mind and enter the brain randomly. It’s the root