From Hospital Gown to Celebration Crown: A Heartfelt Tribute to a Life Well Lived

Life isn't about sunshine and rainbows. It's a tapestry woven with laughter and tears, joy and sorrow, loss and profound connection. When we gathered to face Uncle Ben's final journey, we braced for grief, for shadows. What we found instead was a transformative experience, a celebration of life that redefined gratitude and reshaped our understanding of love.

Join us in this deeply personal episode of Living Lucky as we step into the intimate circle of Uncle Ben's final hours. Through shared stories, laughter, and tears, we explore the raw beauty of living fully, embracing every moment with open hearts. Witness the transformative power of expressing love and gratitude in the present, and discover how a single life can ripple outward, touching countless others.

This episode is more than a farewell. It's a wake-up call, a chance to shed outdated perceptions and step into a life lived intentionally, with radical gratitude. We'll delve into:

• The unexpected joy of celebrating life in the face of loss. Learn how shifting your perspective can transform even the darkest moments.
• Unmasking the profound impact we have on each other. Discover the ripple effect of kindness and the lasting legacy of love.
• The transformative power of expressing heartfelt gratitude. Hear how acknowledging those who lift us up can deepen connections and bring healing.
• Living lucky in the midst of life's complexities. Embrace the full spectrum of experience, from joy to sorrow,and find the strength and resilience within.

Beyond the podcast, the journey continues. Join the Living Lucky community at startlivinglucky.com, where we celebrate intentional living, embrace vulnerability, and support each other through life's ups and downs.

Let Uncle Ben's story be a beacon, guiding you towards a life woven with purpose, connection, and unwavering gratitude. Hit play and step into the light. And when the music fades, carry his lessons with you. Craft your own Living Lucky Manifesto, inspired by the courage of a family facing the inevitable. Design what your "from now on" looks like, fueled by the echoes of laughter and whispered thanks from Uncle Ben's final circle. This is your invitation to live beyond the podcast, to ripple kindness, embrace vulnerability, and join the Living Lucky community at startlivinglucky.com. Together, let's write the most beautiful chapters of our stories yet.

 #livinglucky #gratitude #lifetransitions #celebration

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The 4 pillars of Living Lucky
Believe in yourself
Believe in the people around you
Believe in your circumstances and
Believe that God is working through you, for you, and always conspiring in your favor.

*Previously Recorded

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Are you ready to create a life you crave? Let's spin that doom loop of negativity into an upward success cycle and start living lucky. Good morning. I'm Jama, I'm Jason and we are living lucky. We had an event over the weekend. Jason's uncle Ben had a stroke Yep and he was flown to the cardiovascular unit near Orlando and we being in proximity, we automatically became the inner circle.

Speaker 2: 0:41

Yes.

Speaker 1: 0:42

So we drove to the hospital to become just kind of a support system for the family. To become the support system for the family. Actually, we just texted and said, hey, can we bring you some food? That's what we did and next thing you know we're at the hospital and it looks like he's in his last hours of life.

Speaker 2: 1:07

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:08

And so there are six of us. With Jason and I, it actually we made eight, I think.

Speaker 2: 1:14

Yep, it was uncle Ben, his wife, his two kids, his brother and his wife and us.

Speaker 1: 1:22

And then Jason and I. Now, on the way there, I'm thinking, gosh, I don't have much experience with death or moments before death, or even uncle Ben. I'm not really his inner circle and so I'm thinking gosh. I hope I say the right things. I hope this isn't awkward. I don't really know how to act and in fact, my experience with these types of situations hasn't always been the most celebratory.

Speaker 2: 2:01

Pleasant, like there's not.

Speaker 1: 2:04

It's not a good feeling, it's not, because, you know, on the Living Lucky podcast we often talk about perception and how you perceive your circumstances, and many times people perceive death as something they don't want to go through.

Speaker 2: 2:25

It's a worst possible outcome.

Speaker 1: 2:27

Yes, like, oh my gosh.

Speaker 2: 2:29

It's like I would rather die than do public speaking, and that's not really true, but the perception is that death is really bad, Public speaking is really bad and a lot of times we we have this discomfort in anything that is what we don't aren't looking for or what we don't want.

Speaker 1: 2:48

When really it's it's. It's an event, it's a circumstance that is happening. It's something that's gonna happen to everybody, and the way we go about it, the way we perceive it, the way we experience it, it can actually be one of the most beautiful experiences, which is what happened with Jason's family. I was so grateful.

Speaker 2: 3:13

I just got chills.

Speaker 1: 3:14

And honored that I had the opportunity to be in the inner circle of Uncle Ben's last hours on this earth, because it just felt so loving and it was just, it was truly a celebration of life.

Speaker 2: 3:36

It really was, and one of the things that when you're bringing this up, because, a we didn't know what we were gonna talk about really until we came, until we turned the mic on and made it hot, yes, and B one of the things that really came up for me was these uncomfortable things or these circumstances yeah, especially if you know they're gonna happen. Yeah, it's. How are you living towards them? And Uncle Ben like during the whole celebration of life there are the stories in the moments that were discussed about this is really a homecoming for him because it's such a faith-based family and he lived every day with this love and peacefulness and just kind of lived towards this end experience that turned into a peaceful, loving experience.

Speaker 1: 4:31

And that's why I want to talk about this is because I got to be almost an outsider. I've only met Uncle Ben twice. He's not really an uncle, he's actually a distant cousin of Jason's and, like I said, because he was flown to the cardiovascular unit near Orlando, we happen to be in proximity. So, because I've only met him twice and we volunteered to take the family pizza, were there and of course they're like will come in here and you're in the inner circle, so our family, I'm at the foot of the bed and you know they say everybody gather around and everybody needs to touch Uncle Ben. So everybody's touching Uncle Ben, I'm touching his foot and they need someone to play some music.

Speaker 1: 5:23

Well, I happen to have Apple music, so I volunteered to be the DJ and I'm playing music on my phone. So you know, I'm picking some songs and I'm just, you know, picking either what they request or what comes to me in the moment. And then it just. I got to witness and hear the stories of how Uncle Ben has impacted people's lives and how he lives in the hearts of his daughter and his son and his wife and his brother and even Jason you know it just.

Speaker 1: 6:06

it was so beautiful that I got to hear People say out loud what they normally never tell people wow.

Speaker 1: 6:20

What we normally never take the opportunity to actually say to one another, and I got to hear this and it just felt. Like you know, I often in my meditations, I often say I don't always know what my life, what my purpose is. But I do know that Even in this uncertain time in my life where I'm not exactly sure where I'm headed or what I'm doing or what I'm building, I do know that my energy is, maybe more importantly, impacting the people I come into contact with. I really believe that so true, and what?

Speaker 2: 7:07

when you're saying this, it brings to mind that it's when we enter death. We have six people lifting us up, and that's typically three people down each side of the coffin and often lifting us up and carrying us to our resting place.

Speaker 1: 7:24

I've never thought of it that way that's so interesting and that's kind of.

Speaker 2: 7:28

that's kind of what was surrounding Uncle Ben and his bed six people and two dogs and you mentioned that we should be, we should express these heartfelt thanks and what people mean to us in the present, like before death. Yes, so what would it be like if we had six people, hey, that were, that have lived? We could think of those six people that have lifted us up at some point in our life and really impacted us. And how could we reach out to those people now, while we're still here, while we have our, our mental and physical capacity to thank them and tell them hey, this is what you meant to me and I know it. You may not, it may not have meant anything to you because you were just a doing your job, or being a parent, or being a brother, being a friend or just being someone at the grocery store, but you, it meant something that day and it affected me and I, something in me change like the Grinch. My heart grew three times this this day. Grinch, yeah, so the Grinch.

Speaker 1: 8:36

at the end of all the things, in who will his heart grew six times that day, or however many times it was, I've never seen that movie.

Speaker 2: 8:46

He was affected by the people in who will okay, and that's I think that's where we need to get to is when you have that moment of wow. That really meant something. It's. It's worth more than a text, yeah, and oftentimes we don't even text it, like when that server at the restaurant goes above and beyond and you actually feel like a VIP Right, you feel like us, like you had that special moment. We don't take the time to write a little note on the receipt that we leave with them and say, hey, you made my night special. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1: 9:21

It meant something or even just thanks for making me laugh, yeah anything.

Speaker 2: 9:26

I'm putting a lot of effort in, or I'm putting effort in, and I just want to recognize, I just want to be seen, I just want to matter to you. Yeah and that's huge. I hear you remember calling my ninth grade drama teacher yeah, and just telling her, hey, I can't tell I never mentioned this one. You wanted to kiss no, that was my course, teacher. I had to bring that up my drama teacher wanted to kiss me. I'm just kidding miss Johnson.

Speaker 1: 9:58

The Johnson. I called her on and I say Jason Jalford.

Speaker 2: 10:02

I know you're just doing your job, but you tremendously impacted my life in a great way and I don't know that I would be all that I am today without your influence yeah, I know, I meant the world tour.

Speaker 1: 10:15

I always feel like I made me cry. I always feel like teachers are under appreciated and undervalued and under told. Yeah, they're under told.

Speaker 2: 10:25

And then, by the time, as we focus on the homework, we focus on all these other little things not how it's making us grow, not what it, not how it's, not how it's adding to our lives. We focus on the discomfort.

Speaker 1: 10:39

Yes, yes. Well, I just want to say I felt so privileged to witness all of the. I mean, it just was a really circle.

Speaker 2: 10:52

I felt so much closer.

Speaker 1: 10:54

I do too and hearing the stories, and then, and then there would be some words of prayer, and then some words wisdom, and then we, at one point, we started breaking out in song, just like, just like on Wayne's. World one person started. Were you the one that started singing? Was the one that started saying Jason started singing out loud and the next thing you know, other people started singing. I wanted to start singing, but it was out of my range so I could always start on the wrong.

Speaker 1: 11:25

But I, you know, even Kim said she thought that we were gonna start head banging at one point because everybody was singing and then we all started laughing after that. So there were, there was laughter, there were tears, there were.

Speaker 1: 11:41

What's funny also is that it was love and joy even in some of the tough stories in some of the grieving to, you know, it was like we were helping each other get through and and at the same time, it just was a, it was a celebration, it was, it was the. I mean I always say life is about it's not all positive. You know, even though we want it, we always say spin positive, spin positive will. Life isn't all positive and it's about embracing the not so positive and finding the beauty in those moments, as well as the radical gratitude, because in those moments that's how we grow and that's how we learn and that's how we become the resilient and we we discovered the strength and the perseverance within, and it's no clearer Then, when you lose a person that has made you the that's helped you lean into some of those things right.

Speaker 1: 12:52

And I also feel like we need both the highs and the lows to help us discover not only the depths of who we are, but the width of who we are and also the, the spiritual sides of ourselves, and there's just so many different temperatures and energies, and I just loved it, it was, I mean yes.

Speaker 2: 13:20

I shifted from an uncomfortable event to a beautiful life celebration.

Speaker 1: 13:28

It truly is a life celebration, and I know that there still is a transition Period for the family. I also know that what I witnessed in that room was just truly exceptional. So I'm very, very grateful. And I just wanted to talk about it today because sometimes the way we perceive things will make all the difference.

Speaker 2: 13:58

Yeah, and we just talk about what we go through and what's real. Keep living lucky.

Speaker 1: 14:04

Bye, bye. Take care, if the idea of living lucky appeals to you, visit us at start. Living lucky dot com.