Welcome to the the new monthly #BePresentWithKoch series 

Hi, I’m Jackie Naginey Hook, a spiritual director, celebrant and end-of-life doula and I’m happy to be with you today to introduce our Be Present with Koch video series. This series is about the importance of being present in everyday life as well as throughout the dying, death and grief journeys. In this series, we’ll talk about how it’s healthy and human to be present and to acknowledge meaningful and transformative life experiences around dying, death and grief. Every month we’ll have a discussion about a different topic. For example, in July, we’ll talk to Koch Funeral Home’s supervisor and funeral director, Glenn Fleming, about why rituals are important. Our hope is that you’ll learn from each video and find a little love, light and life in them too – even when we talk about dying, death and grief.

Please know that during these pandemic days, we know that we aren’t always able to be physically present with our loved ones, so we’ll also talk about ways to be present from a distance.

When I use the words be present, it might make you think of being mindful or the term mindfulness. I like Benedictine monk, author and lecturer David Steindl-Rast’s description – “…“mindful” may be a little misleading, because it sounds a bit much like mind-over-body, but it has nothing to do with mind over or against body. I think “wholeheartedness” is the English word that expresses better what mindfulness as a technical term means; that you respond to every situation from your center, from your heart – that you listen with your heart to every situation, and your heart elicits the response.”

The Be Present with Koch video series is about wholeheartedness – we invite you to join us and listen with your heart and let your heart elicit the response. I look forward to seeing you next month with Glenn Fleming. Thank you.