Death is something every one of us will experience, yet most of us learn very little about it until someone we love is dying.
Death Is for the Living explores death literacy and what understanding mortality can teach us about living more fully.
Drawing on forty years of nursing experience, Susan Ten-Kate offers honest, compassionate conversations about death and dying, grief and loss, caregiving, aging, end-of-life care, and the natural dying process.
Through stories and lessons learned at the bedside, Susan explores how awareness of mortality can help us live with greater presence, courage, gratitude, connection, and intention.
Because the worst time to begin learning about death is when someone you love is already dying.
So you've lost someone, now what? There are plenty of answers we are given to that question. But what do we do with the love that remains?
In this episode, I reflect on grief, the enduring bond with those who have died, and what it means to carry our love forward as we continue living.
25 Aug 2026
The Wisdom of the Body
Our bodies have been living and dying for as long as bodies have existed. We may understand death biologically, but that understanding changes when we stand beside someone we love as they make that transition. In this episode, I explore the wisdom held in the body-what it knows about living, dying, and the natural rhythms we so often try to resist.
1 Jun 2026
Episode 5A Remembering How to Live
What if our fear of death is connected to forgetting how to fully participate in life while we are here?
In this episode of Death is for the Living, Susan reflects on contentment, ordinary moments, and the possibility that remembering how to live may be one of the great antidotes to our fear of dying.
Through reflections on mortality, death awareness, gratitude, presence, and living with intention, this episode invites listeners to consider how embracing the reality of death can help us experience life more deeply. Part of the ongoing conversation around death literacy, end-of-life wisdom, and what it means to truly be alive while we are here.
15 May 2026
Episode 4 The unbearable tenderness of loving mortal beings
We resist death not because we are weak...but because we love
In this episode of Death Is for the Living, Susan Ten-Kate explores the tension between our desire to hold on and the reality that all lives eventually come to an end. Drawing on her experience as a nurse, she reflects on grief, attachment, caregiving, mortality, and the profound ways love shapes our experience of loss.
Through stories and reflection, this conversation invites listeners to consider how accepting death’s place in the human experience can deepen compassion, strengthen relationships, and help us live with greater presence and appreciation for the time we share with one another.
1 May 2026
Episode 3 Mortality is a teacher
Death is for the living episode three a reflection on the body love and remembering
What happens when we begin to see our bodies not as projects to perfect, but as companions for the journey?
In this episode of Death Is for the Living, Susan Ten-Kate reflects on the relationship we have with our bodies, the stories we tell ourselves about aging, and the ways love can help us remember who we are beneath appearance, achievement, and expectation.
Through personal reflection and gentle inquiry, Susan explores self-acceptance, aging, identity, body image, love, and the wisdom that emerges when we view our lives through the lens of mortality. A conversation about honoring the body, embracing change, and remembering ourselves with compassion.
14 Apr 2026
Episode 2 B Saying Yes Anyway
How much of life do we miss while waiting for guarantees?
In this episode of Death Is for the Living, Susan Ten-Kate reflects on the courage required to say yes to life even when the outcome is uncertain. Through personal stories and gentle exploration, she considers how fear, vulnerability, and the desire for certainty can keep us from fully participating in our own lives.
Drawing on the wisdom that comes from an awareness of mortality, Susan invites listeners to embrace possibility, meaningful connection, personal growth, and the opportunities that arise when we choose to move forward despite not knowing what comes next.
A conversation about courage, resilience, uncertainty, and saying yes anyway.
10 Apr 2026
Episode 2 Death literacy
What if death is not the enemy we have been taught to fear?
In this episode, Susan Ten-Kate explores a simple but profound idea: death is for the living. Drawing on nearly four decades of nursing experience, she reflects on the lessons learned from those approaching the end of life and how an awareness of mortality can help us live with greater purpose, presence, gratitude, and intention.
Through honest conversation and gentle reflection, Susan invites listeners to consider death literacy, grief, caregiving, aging, and end-of-life realities—not as topics to avoid, but as opportunities to better understand what it means to be fully alive.
4 Apr 2026
Episode 1 The Fifth Season
In this opening episode of Death Is for the Living, Susan Ten-Kate introduces the concept of “The Fifth Season”—the season that follows the traditional stages of life and invites us into a deeper relationship with mortality, meaning, and what it means to truly live.
Drawing on nearly four decades as a nurse working with aging, serious illness, and end-of-life care, Susan explores death literacy, grief, purpose, and the lessons that awareness of death can teach us about living more fully. This episode sets the foundation for a podcast dedicated to honest conversations about death, dying, caregiving, and the art of being fully present while we are here.
3 Apr 2026
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