Surety of Death Fires Urgent Purpose in Life

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There are some people that make their
work just another thing they have to do,

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and there are those that make their
work something that they want to do.

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Welcome to Working on Purpose with your
host, Elise Cortes. In our

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program, we provide guidance and inspiration
from those people who have found deeper meaning

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and personal connection to their work life. It's beyond nine to five. It's

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working on purpose. Now Here is
your host, Elise Cortes. I'm your

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host, Alise Cortes, joining ULI
from Dallas, Texas, which is home

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base for me. This program has
all about helping people more meaningfully and productively

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connect with their work and equipping leaders
to cultivate meaning and purpose in the workplace

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to elicit passion inspired contribution, innovation, and persevering performance. So I seek

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out and bring on guests to a
particular perspective, experience, or expertise that

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I think contributes to or expands this
conversation area. As a management consultant and

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social scientist, I draw on the
meaning and work identity research I've been doing

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over the last fifteen years, as
well as from my consulting, speaking and

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experience developing workforces across the globe.
In these weekly conversations. It is my

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intention that you derive value you can
immediately apply to your personal and work lives.

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And it is my fervent hope that
you come alive with the possibility of

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living with passion, working on purpose
and just how big and fulfilling your life

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and work can be. And if
you do catch fire, I do not

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want to leave you without a support
line. Your call to action then is

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to contact me via email at a
lease at Leastcretes dot com. Tell me

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whether you just want to join the
distribution list to stay informed of these radio

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show topics. If you want to
see about joining a catch fire online inspiration,

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accountability or mastermind community, or you
want information on my purpose driven leadership

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programs for individuals or companies, you
can also find me on Facebook, LinkedIn,

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or send me a tweet to Elise
Cortes on Twitter. Back to the

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content. If you missed last week's
program, you can always catch it via

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recorded podcast. We were on the
air with Phil Sotok. He's the founder

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of DPMC North America, a management
consultancy special life in mission driven management and

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virtuous leadership. We talked about why
purpose is such an important drive in today's

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business world, how he sees that
working from purpose gives a critical element of

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integrity to people's lives, and his
learning perspective on how companies can manage by

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mission and virtuous leadership. Totally inspiring
conversation with us. This week, we

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have a very very special guest,
and it's just ahead of my favorite holiday

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ever, Thanksgiving. We have with
us Elizabeth Fournier. She's the owner and

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operator of Cornerstone Funeral Services, where
she's affectually known as the Green Reaper for

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her green burial afficacy. She serves
on the advisory board for the Green Burial

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Council, the environmental certification organization setting
the standard for green burial in North America.

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She's also the author of the Green
Burial guidebook Everything you Need to Plan

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an affordable, environmentally friendly Burial.
We'll be talking about the inevitable event of

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death, how it can stoke a
tremendous sense of purpose across our lives,

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how it was that she began doing
their work she's doing as an undertaker,

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and what it means to her,
and the role and importance of granted and

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how showing up in life it gives
us a well lived experience. She does

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her today from Boring, Oregon.
It's a small town just outside of Portland,

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Oregon. Elizabeth, welcome to working
on Purpose use zesty one. Oh

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yes, I'm thrilled to be here. And I love how Thanksgiving is your

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favorite You know, my favorite holiday
is my birthday. Gosh, what does

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that say about me? Well?
How great is that to hear from someone

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who works in the field that you
do. And I just can't wait to

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hear more about this. I have
been telling everybody who will listen to me

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that you're coming on my show today, So I'm really excited about our conversation.

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But I will admit to you,
Elizabeth, that when the idea of

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having you coming on my show first
came across my radar, at first I

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dismissed it. I thought, you
know, this show is about passion and

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purpose, and it seems to me
like, you know, this other set

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of life, this thing called death, isn't really part of the bargain.

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But then I really got it.
I really got that the idea that since

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we do have a time stamp on
our lives, that is really what helps

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contribute to purpose. For a lot
of us. It gives us an earth

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urgency. So it's precisely because we
don't know when we're going to be leaving

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that I think that we really need
to be able to focus on living with

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passion and working on purpose your thoughts. Well, I think the truth is

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as an undertaker, I assist the
living far more than the dead. Over

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the years, I've really learned that
death is here to teach us not just

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about loss but about letting go,
but most importantly and really and truly about

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living. And perhaps one of the
most important facts about living is understanding that

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one day each one of us will
die. So I'm a mortician. I

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work with the dead, but really
the reality is it's really all about life

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and those left behind. Wow,
we have a lot to dig into here,

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and I could pick that brain of
yours and that soul and mind of

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yours for quite some time. But
one of the things that you talked about

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when we first did our conversation on
the phone to talk about what we wanted

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to share in this segment here this
episode, is you talked about how people

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can live more energetically and creatively.
You've got to stand on that. What

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is it that you stand for on
those two topics there's so much to unpack,

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so much to say. I would
say, first off, every morning

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we really open two gifts. Do
you have an idea what those two gifts

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are? The first thing would be
the eyeballs. And I'm just kidding.

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Yes, that's really okay, that's
exactly the eyeballs. Yes, we open

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our eyes and we know what that
tells us. Life is miraculous. Many

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of us take that for granted,
and the moment we arise in the morning,

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not only is it a brand new
day with all the food potential,

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but that majesty of being able to
see what's going on in the world is

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amazing. What I tell people a
lot of times to help them live more

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energetically and more creatively is when you
wake up in the morning, pretend like

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you are on your deathbed. And
it doesn't have to be depressing. It

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could be that sort of live like
you were dying attitude, that thought of

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Okay, so if this was my
last day, how would I shape this?

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How would I look? What would
happen? Should I be considering making

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smart choices? Should I be forgiving
people? Should I be picking up that

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instrument that's rusting in the corner?
I mean a lot of that really matters,

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and that perspective is so rich and
so full and buoyant, and so

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many of us just wake up and
sort of put one foot on the floor

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and pull up the trousers and you
know, shuffle off to get the coffee,

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and our begrudging about the fact it's
Monday. But you know, when

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you complain about Monday, be excited
because Tuesday might be the day that you

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die. Wow, this is so
compelling. I'd love this, Okay.

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So one of the things that you
alluded to there is, which is something

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that I'm really really I take a
big stand for in the work that I

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do, is I really notice all
the time, Elizabeth, that people are

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literally walking through life either completely asleep
or frankly in a semi state of death,

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and they just don't know it.
They're just you know, they're just

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there's the lights around, but nobody's
home. And I know from the research

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that I do that the galloperization says
that only fifteen one five percent of the

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global workforce is fully committed and engaging
enthusiastic about their work. So the other

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eighty five percent are just kind of
going through the motions and mailing it in

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as we like to say. So
I love what you're saying that really just

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getting present to the awe of every
day. What a difference that would make

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for us. Yeah, life is
more than just drinking your cup of coffee,

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paying bills and just sort of waiting
around until the incomes. Right,

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There's so much more in those moments
and in those minutes, in those hours,

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the precious connections, all these things. Really, I think like what

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you're saying at least is live out
loud. Oh I love that. I

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love that live out loud. Now, you mentioned something about the creativity piece,

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and I can certainly see that even
just when I say this and the

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work that I do and in my
programs, you know, being allowing yourself

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to be inspired by what you see
in life can make you be inspired.

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And I also say that it contributes
to your own creativity. What else do

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you think we can do to stoke
our creativity? How about know thyself?

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I think that sounds so simple to
thine be true. I think that's really

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really an amazing thing, because ultimately, if you can see yourself and you

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know yourself through and through you know
your self discovery, you can move forward

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and you can do these things.
I think that they're really to a certain

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degree. There's plenty of adults who
really don't know who they are and they

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get to that point of they watch
Oprah and have that Aha moment, and

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you know, you don't need that
woman on TV telling you to have that

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aha moment again. When you wake
up in the morning, you open your

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eyes, that should be your AHA
moment. Wow. You know that's really

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a great point, Elizabeth. And
I'll tell you I've spent done a lot

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of work on myself, and of
course it'll be ongoing for the rest of

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the days that I have on the
planet to continue that investigation. But this

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last six months for me, it
has been a wealth of creativity. I've

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created my Purpose Drive leaders programs,
I've written half of my book, and

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I've actually readdressed the whole way that
I address crowds and speak in just in

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the last six months. And I
do think you're right part of that came

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from some of the really heavy duty
lifting I've been doing to understand who I

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am and what I'm up to in
this life. Let me share something else

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with you, as an undertaker,
I think the concept of a bucket list

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isn't a very good concept. I
think the movie was great. I love

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Morgan Freeman. I love the idea
and the purpose of the movie. But

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what I find is having this magical
list of before I die, I want

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to see Paris, and before I
die, I really need to ask this

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person for forgiveness. You know what
your life is now, now, now,

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now, It really doesn't matter if
you get to Paris. It's really

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in this moment. How full are
you, how blossoming are you? And

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like you're saying, you're a never
ending work of art, You're a never

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ending project, and you've got to
put in the time. But our life

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is right now. It's not when
you lose weight, it's not when you

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get into that relationship you want.
It's not when you can finally pay your

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mortgage. It's right this minute.
I love that. In fact, when

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I was thinking about how to describes
this particular episode, one of the things

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I said in the description is that
our enemy is complacency. We always have

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this idea that we've got our whole
life in front of us. All get

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to that, And I really appreciate
what you're saying. We don't know if

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we're going to get to that,
So let's just get to it now.

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And if we don't get to whatever
it is on the list, that's okay.

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We're here now, be here now. There's no pain in the present

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moment. Staying in the present moment
it is so much harder to do.

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Have you ever been having a conversation
with a friend and your mind is drifting

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off to something else, or you're
going down the street and rather than looking

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at the beautiful flora and fauna and
really seeing every street sign, you're just

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sort of an autopilot. You're just
kind of going through the motions of getting

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the point. I need a point. B boo, hiss boo, live

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your life, live out loud.
Your moment is right now. You love

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that. Well. On the other
side of that, one of the tests

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that I have people do in my
purpose driven leadership programs, and we talked

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about this when we were on the
phone, is I asked them to write

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their own obituary. And I'll say
more about why I do this, but

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first you mentioned it, So will
you comment on the idea of people writing

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their own obituary and why you're not
why or why not you think it's a

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good idea. I think it's fantastic. And something that I found when I

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was younger is I'm a writer.
I've written a couple books, and I

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like to write articles and things.
And a couple of friends said to me,

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can you write a personal ad for
me? And while I was writing

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ads, I was putting together kind
of their best foot forward details. It

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was really their time to shine.
And as I wrote this, I was

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thinking, Wow, you know,
if you die tomorrow, I just wrote

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your obituary. So it's sort of
interesting how it really is the same thing.

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It's you to taking that time and
figuring out what have you done in

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your life that you're proud of,
what do you stand for, and what

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will people remember you. I think
as Americans especially, we love the idea

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of having a legacy. That's why
we are the only people in society that

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will buy a grave space and have
a headstone, and that grave space will

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always for perpetuity, even after we
are no longer alive for decades, still

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belong to us. We don't reuse
grave spaces because we love the concept of

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having memorialization and legacy, and writing
your own obituary is called auto obituary.

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Did you know there's an actual name
for this because a lot of scholastic people

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have their people do this. So
I have so much to say about this

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and would love to go on and
on, and still can go on and

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on, but I definitely wanted to
answer your question with a simple yes,

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I think it's a fantastic idea.
Well, you've certainly reinforced why it is

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as I do that in the program, I can say that oftentimes what happens

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is when participant's right their obituary,
there's a stark contrast between where they are

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today and what that looks like,
meaning that they've got a lot that they

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still want to do in life,
they want to contribute, they want to

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matter, and that chasm can be
really motivating for people. And so that's

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a big reason that I have people
do it in the workshops and for them

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to really step out of themselves the
idea when you're there's something about stepping out

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of today and actually when you're you
know you're dead that gives you permission to

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really really create. It seems to
me and in a way that we don't

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limit ourselves as much as we might
if we didn't consider that we're doing this

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from the grave. Site. Yeah, I love that. I love that

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idea of who do you see yourself
as, what do you want to be?

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And then the goals that you've accomplished
or want to accomplish. But then

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I think there's a deeper layer to
this, and that's really taking a look

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at if I die today, what
I die happy? And am I satisfied

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with the direction of my life?
What's my legacy? I'm creating what's missing

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from my life? And ultimately,
what do I need to do in order

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for my obituary to be quote unquote
complete, For me to feel like I've

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written the story of my life,
I can tuck it away in the drawer

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and that goofy bucket list isn't hanging
over my head. I've done what I

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need to do to feel complete on
Earth. Wow, that's kind of neat.

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We can always be an ever unfolding
and organic package that sort of does

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what it needs to do and ebbs
and flows in the strength of the universe.

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But nonetheless is sort of feel like
you've completed what you really have maybe

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intended to do. That's pretty powerful. It sure is. In fact,

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I'll just say quickly, I remember
when I went to an identity research conference

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some couple of years ago. Yes, I love investigating identity anyway. The

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gentleman who'd been at it for like
fifty years, he talked about how fulfilling

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his life had been, and how
you know, if he did fall off

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the pace of the earth the next
day or in the next hour, be

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just great with that because he's done
what he's what he wanted to do.

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And that sense of peace that came
with that was just so palpable. I

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like that. But maybe that's not
who you want to sit next to on

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a plane because maybe you know his
ticket's going to be called. He's done.

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Yeah, I did distance myself just
a little bit. Yeah, you

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go over that side of the room
and I'll be right over here. Okay,

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well, let's grab our first break. And there's so much more I

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want to ask you, but we'll
grab our first break. I'm your host.

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Alice Cortez went on in the year
with Elizabeth Fournier. She's the owner

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and operator of Cornerstone Funeral Services.
She is the author of the Green Burial

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guidebook Everything you Need to Plan an
Affordable, environmentally friendly Burial. She do

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it today from Boring, Oregon.
We've been talking a bit about how it

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is that death can actually give us
urgency with which to live our lives with

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purpose and fulfillment. After the break, we're going to talk a bit about

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her actual work, what she's learned
from her work, and how she got

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in it, what she actually does
in her day to day. Stay with

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us, we'll be right back.
Alise Cortes is a speaker and engagement and

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development catalyst. She designs and delivers
professional development, leadership and engagement workshops and

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can bring her expertise to your organization. She will help ignite meaningful development within

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your workforce that will increase employee engagement, performance and retention. To learn more

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or to invite Elise to speak to
your organization, please visit her at www

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dot Elise Coortes dot com. She
would welcome the opportunity to help get your

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employees working on purpose. This is
working on Purpose with Elise Cortes. To

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reach our program today, send an
email to a lease Alise at Alisecortes dot

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00:16:57.720 --> 00:17:03.519
com. Now back to working on
purpose. If you're just joining us,

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My guest is Elizabeth Fournier, the
owner and operator of Cornerstone Funeral Services in

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Boring, Oregon, where she's affectionately
known as the Green Reaper for her green

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burial advocacy. She serves on the
advisory board of the Green Burial Council,

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the environmental certification organization set in the
standard for green barrel in North America.

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She's also the author of the Green
Burial guidebook Everything you Need to Plan an

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Affordable, environmentally friendly Burial. I'm
your host, Alice Cortes. So we

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were talking before the break, Elizabeth
about really just how death can really be

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a friend for us and help guide
our lives in a meaningful way. And

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you've been in this space for a
while, and I know you can probably

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talk a lot about this, but
just what are some of the major things

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that you've learned about life through the
work that you do. Well. I've

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learned that I don't have the ability
to take away someone's pain. I always

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wished, after being nearly thirty years
in the death care industry, that I

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would know magical phrases or I would
know these really fantastic things that I could

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say to somebody and they could look
at me and say, oh, okay,

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and their pain would dissolve. Oh. And I found that it's you

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know, there's a ship in the
ocean, and we all get a turn

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at the helm, and before you
know it, it's going to be your

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turn at the wheel, because ultimately
we all get a turn of going through

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loss and grief and somebody in our
life dying, and we just have to

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really be just gentle with each other. You know, that's such an interesting

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point. Just very quickly, I
can say that I haven't had a lot

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of experience with people dying and just
be on my grandparents, nobody around me

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per se. But I have been
around other friends who've lost people, and

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what I found is that they want
to talk about it. And it seems

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like we tend to avoid talking about
death, we get upset or nervous or

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uncomfortable. And my experience so far
has been that people enjoy being able to

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talk about the person who's past.
Do you have a perspective on that?

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Yeah, I do. And make
sure you use that person's name. That's

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especially important for people who've lost spouses
or long term partners, especially with parents

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who've lost children. People will just
say your loss or something, or maybe

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they'll say your daughter, but you
really need to say Julie or you really

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need you don't because people don't want
that person to disappear, and they're afraid

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if you don't bring their name up
and talk about Eddie or Frankie or just

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kind of say you're a kid that
died, or just you know, they

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just go away and fade away out
of sight because ultimately there is sort of

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a black mark left where they used
to be so helpful. That's so helpful

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for our listeners, I think.
So, I think it would be terribly

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interesting for all of us to learn
just how it was that you decided to

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become an undertaker. I mean,
that seems to me it's a job that

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certainly is needed in the world,
but it's probably not one that immediately registers

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as possibility for a lot of people. So what's the story. How do

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you know Field thirty years ago?
No less, Yeah, my career.

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It's a calling far greater than me. I would say, it's destined.

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Perhaps it's probably written in the stars. And that's really because as a child,

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Boss had defined my world over a
brief span of three years in the

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home that we shared, one family
member after the next. They died when

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I was six. My paternal grandmother
had passed, and an eight my mother

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in just about six months after my
mom my paternal grandfather. So by the

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time I was nine, I mean, I'd been to so many funerals I

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become something of an accidental expert.
Let alone. I was left with a

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father who was a young man of
forty who just lost both parents and his

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wife within three years. I'm a
fifty year old woman who couldn't even fathom

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raising two small children without, you
know, and losing parents, and it's

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amazing to think about it. So
ultimately my story gets a little bit kooky

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in the sense that my father remarried
right away. But I needed to grieve,

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I needed to expand, I needed
to figure out what I felt.

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So I started attending funerals of people
I didn't know, just at my little

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local Catholic church when I could drive. I began perusing the obituaries and circling

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the most interesting ones I could find, and i'd be on my way.

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On Saturdays. You could find me
sitting quietly alone in the very last pew,

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and I was reverent. I wasn't
there to make a mockery of it.

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I was really trying to work my
way through grief and figure it out.

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And basically, what had happened is. I finally realized that my healing

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was kind of coming to me because
I found, you know, attending a

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stranger's funeral comforting at first. But
the more I began to attend, the

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more I noticed I felt sort of
less connected to the ritual because they all

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seem sort of the same. We
had sort of the same music, the

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same words, sort of addressed the
deceased in the same sort of casket.

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We're kind of going about the same
way. It seemed very highly impersonal after

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a while, but still I knew
that this was something I wanted to be

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a part of and be a part
of somehow. So really, toward the

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end of my funeral crashing days,
I really worked up enough courge to tell

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my father that, Dad, I
think my life purpose is probably to be

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a mortician. Of course, I
didn't say mature words like that at age

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thirteen, but that's kind of where
we went with it. So ultimately I

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knew I wanted to be an undertaker. He sort of discouraged that. I

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went on and got my four year
degree. I lived in a cemetery when

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I was in college, and I
never shook the concept of this is what

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I need to do. This is
who I am, and I want to

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go on and figure out how to
make this work for other people. Oh

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my gosh, Elizabeth, that was
so worth the price of admission right there,

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Just that one conversation is so awesome. I'm so sorry about all your

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losses, of course, but wow, wow, that is very powerful,

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very compelling. And I and I
so appreciate that you know that you consider

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this is your calling. This that's
that's incredibly powerful. Yeah, and and

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and then now we take it.
One of the things that I really love

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that you're up to. I love
the fact one that you were a funeral

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crasher. That just cracks me up. But but the fact that they call

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you the green Reaper, I love
that because you focus on green burial.

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I'm very proud to come from Oregon, Elizabeth. I I spent most of

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my life in Oregon. I'm very
proud of my of my my cultural heritage.

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And one of the things that I
really loved is, you know,

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the environmental focus that the state tends
to focus on. By the way,

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just quickly, do you know Susan
socer Blosser. They oh, sure,

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the winery gal. Yeah, yeah, she was on my radio show and

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I did go see here there and
in Portland when I came through a couple

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of years ago. So anyway,
so the green Reaper first and green burial.

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I had never heard of this until
you came on my show. So

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what does that mean green burial?
And how is that different from a regular

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burial? Yeah? Sure, So
to basically breakdown what green burial means is,

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it's a set of body preparations and
funeral and burial practices that really allow

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a body to naturally go from being
its full self as we know it into

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something biodegradable and something that nurtures the
earth. If that sounds a little shrouded,

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Ultimately, it's really what we did
as a traditional burial for human history

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up till about the twentieth century.
It's a matter of the embody not being

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embalmbed, not having toxic chemicals,
letting it be in as natural state.

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From there, we're putting the body
into a shroud or a natural casket or

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something made out of banana leaves or
bamboo wick or placing that into the earth

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and allowing it to go back to
nature. So it's that full cycle of

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life without letting any formaldehyde or concrete
or steel or anything getting away of the

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whole natural process. Elizabeth, that
is stunningly beautiful. I had no idea.

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This is not on my radar.
I don't, like I said,

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I don't. I haven't lost people
close to me, so the death process

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has not been on my radar.
But I really appreciate the focus, the

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care of the whole cycle that you're
talking about. That just makes so much

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sense to me. Thank you.
I'm glad it's something that is neat neat

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and it's probably a silly word,
but that is something that came to me

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unknowingly. I had come out to
this rural parlor here and I became a

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funeral homeowner in two thousand and five, just an old, broken down,

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repurposed goat barn in the country.
Now, within a very short period of

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time of coming here, I received
a phone call from a woman who wanted

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to bury her friend. And her
friend, Wanda, had lived on commune

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property out in the country. They
wanted to lay her to rest on the

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private acreage, and they asked me
if I can help them do this.

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And this was something I had never
heard of. I had never done before.

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I worked for corporate funeral homes and
we did things sort of what people

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think of as a point of a
modern burial, modern funeral. So I

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called around, made the phone calls, find out that yes, indeed this

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is legal, and this is something
we can do. I help this family

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do this. It was lovely that
they were able to stay with Wanda from

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her last breath until her final goodbye. It brought them so much comfort,

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so much closure. They could do
things their way. They could wrap her

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in the quilt that they wanted,
they could prepare her own burial space,

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we could lower her into the earth. And it was so lovely that as

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I drove home that day from Wanda's
service, I realized, this is amazing.

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I thought my calling was to be
in the funeral industry, but I

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realized, no, my calling is
to be this person who ultimately ended up

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being nicknamed the Green Reaper. I
just am so impressed, And I also

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appreciate, Elizabeth, that you're a
pioneer in your field, and you serve

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on the advisory board for the Green
Burial Council, and I know that's the

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environmental certification organization setting the standard for
green barrel in North America. So first

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again I want to applaud that you're
a pioneer, you're a leader, you're

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pushing that, you're pushing the field
forward. Who are you working with and

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what are you really trying to get
done there in that they'd that organization.

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Well, ultimately, what my goal
is is to save families money and save

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the planet at the same time.
And that can be done in Oregon.

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We love to recycle, We love
to own herbs and vegetables. I mean,

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your home state does great things.
We wear, we bring our cloth

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00:28:04.359 --> 00:28:08.279
sacks to the grocery store, and
you know, we care about getting our

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cans back and recycling them. So
it makes a lot of sense if you're

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going to live this real environmental impactful
lifestyle that why can't you keep it green

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till the end? And you really
can keep that trend going forward that way.

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So helping families be able to do
things how they want, it saves

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them so much money. You don't
have to buy that expensive casket, you

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don't have to have all the goods
and services from the funeral home. Also,

404
00:28:34.359 --> 00:28:41.200
it saves them the standard of the
environment. We are not putting chemicals

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and fertilizer and pesticides back into the
earth. If you're choosing to be in

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a natural burial space, or if
you're even lucky enough to have your own

407
00:28:48.839 --> 00:28:55.279
home acreage. Oregon really states that
most counties allow you to have a backyard

408
00:28:55.319 --> 00:29:02.680
burial if you have some certain logistics
such as at least one acre and the

409
00:29:02.799 --> 00:29:06.920
landowner says this is fine. You
know, you're a little bit away from

410
00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:10.880
the roadway or a watershed, and
most of this is very very workable.

411
00:29:10.920 --> 00:29:15.759
It's very easy to get and very
easy to do. So ultimately, my

412
00:29:15.920 --> 00:29:21.680
concept is there's that huge toxic black
mark in the ecosystem because of all of

413
00:29:21.720 --> 00:29:26.839
the embalming that we started out doing
in the eighteen sixties after the Civil War,

414
00:29:26.920 --> 00:29:30.279
and we've got a million acres of
modern cemeteries with a laundry list to

415
00:29:30.359 --> 00:29:36.240
potential groundwater problems, and it's sort
of reversing the damage we've already done here

416
00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:40.000
to mother Earth. Wow, it
strikes me that this ought to be in

417
00:29:40.039 --> 00:29:42.720
our will. Then this is how
we want to be buried. It's definitely

418
00:29:42.799 --> 00:29:49.200
a personal choice. I find families
sometimes really want cremation or they would really

419
00:29:49.240 --> 00:29:55.880
love the idea of being viewed for
a couple days with embalming and having the

420
00:29:55.920 --> 00:29:59.559
hearts and having all these things,
and you know, as a funeral provider,

421
00:30:00.039 --> 00:30:03.720
funeral director, mortician, undertaker,
pretty much all the same guidance under

422
00:30:03.720 --> 00:30:08.160
that license. I have an ethic
that I hold where I'm here to serve

423
00:30:08.200 --> 00:30:15.039
families and provide information. So whatever
somebody wants to do to honor their loved

424
00:30:15.039 --> 00:30:21.640
one, absolutely fantastic. But when
I see a family have interest in doing

425
00:30:21.680 --> 00:30:26.920
something a little bit more do it
yourself, or they ask on ways they

426
00:30:26.960 --> 00:30:30.720
can save money, or they say, hey, I read this article or

427
00:30:30.799 --> 00:30:34.119
oh I saw your book, tell
me more. I'm thrilled to have that

428
00:30:34.240 --> 00:30:40.920
open door to walk right through and
share all the information, give them all

429
00:30:40.960 --> 00:30:45.799
of the choices. And it's amazing
to see people get so excited when they

430
00:30:45.799 --> 00:30:48.240
can do things their way, when
they realize, oh my gosh, I

431
00:30:48.279 --> 00:30:53.799
can make my own castsket I can
provide my own transportation for my loved one.

432
00:30:55.279 --> 00:30:57.119
You know, really, I can
come to the funeral home and I

433
00:30:57.160 --> 00:31:02.839
can help bathe my mind and dress
her and say goodbye and have time.

434
00:31:03.240 --> 00:31:07.160
You bet you All these things are
your rights. And we don't realize that

435
00:31:07.160 --> 00:31:12.759
that when somebody passes away, that
body belongs to the family that's your loved

436
00:31:12.759 --> 00:31:18.200
one. There is only ten states
of the United States that say you have

437
00:31:18.279 --> 00:31:22.200
to turn over your body to a
funeral home. So that means there's forty

438
00:31:22.200 --> 00:31:26.240
states that say you can act as
your own funeral director and take care of

439
00:31:26.279 --> 00:31:30.079
your loved one as much as you
want. So pretty neat people don't realize

440
00:31:30.079 --> 00:31:33.839
all the rights we have. Can
you work with people outside of Oregon?

441
00:31:34.240 --> 00:31:37.599
Oh? Sure, okay, so
listeners. We have listeners from all over

442
00:31:37.640 --> 00:31:41.720
the globe, Elizabeth, So people
could actually reach out to you just because

443
00:31:41.720 --> 00:31:45.000
you're an Oregon that's so great.
So yeah, it's don I had a

444
00:31:45.039 --> 00:31:48.279
woman the other week who emailed me. She was starting to prepare a burial

445
00:31:48.319 --> 00:31:52.720
space in her yard in Alaska,
and she thought, well, we're gonna

446
00:31:52.759 --> 00:31:56.960
have the frozen tundra, We're going
to have all the rain. What do

447
00:31:56.039 --> 00:31:59.599
I do? And I was able
to instruct her and tell her the way

448
00:31:59.720 --> 00:32:04.440
she's continue digging, how she should
preserve this space in the yard, and

449
00:32:04.480 --> 00:32:08.319
it was wonderful. And she's an
Alaska and her loved one won't be handled

450
00:32:08.359 --> 00:32:13.000
by my funeral home because that person
will die in that state. But nonetheless

451
00:32:13.039 --> 00:32:15.640
she can reach out and get all
the information she need. Its happy to

452
00:32:15.680 --> 00:32:20.160
help okay, awesome, okay,
great. Well, let's talk a little

453
00:32:20.160 --> 00:32:22.000
bit about your book. One.
I applaud that you've got some books out

454
00:32:22.039 --> 00:32:27.039
there. I'm writing my first,
so I really appreciate that yours is out

455
00:32:27.039 --> 00:32:30.680
there. So the Green Burial Guide
Book everything you need to do, everything

456
00:32:30.720 --> 00:32:36.079
you need to plan an affordable,
environmentally friendly burial. So what are some

457
00:32:36.160 --> 00:32:37.839
of the key messages in there.
I'm sure there's a whole lot you could

458
00:32:37.880 --> 00:32:40.599
convey, but what is it you
really are trying to convey in that book.

459
00:32:42.240 --> 00:32:45.720
I think the key message is that
we can do so much better,

460
00:32:45.279 --> 00:32:52.079
and why not celebrate a life well
lived by helping to heal the planet and

461
00:32:52.119 --> 00:32:55.359
give back. There are so many
ways we can leave a greener footprint.

462
00:32:55.759 --> 00:33:02.200
There are things people aren't aware of. You can choose any biodegradable container,

463
00:33:02.319 --> 00:33:07.079
any cemetery will allow you to bury
your loved one in a cardboard box or

464
00:33:07.160 --> 00:33:12.000
the sheet off of your bed,
So that's really not a lot of money

465
00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:16.000
spent and also not a lot of
carbon footprint going into the world. I

466
00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:21.440
think something else my book really tries
to let people know is to be easy

467
00:33:21.480 --> 00:33:27.200
on yourself. We all have these
best laid plans and when we know somebody's

468
00:33:27.279 --> 00:33:31.559
going to die or we're going to
die ourselves. Sometimes there's conversations and there's

469
00:33:31.599 --> 00:33:36.319
dialogues, and there's the idea of
what should we do when this happens.

470
00:33:36.480 --> 00:33:42.160
And I've had families who've laid everything
out step by step of how the home

471
00:33:42.400 --> 00:33:45.960
funeral will look or if they're going
to use the funeral home, what they

472
00:33:46.319 --> 00:33:51.920
want that to look like, what
everything will look like, and sometimes it

473
00:33:51.960 --> 00:33:55.680
doesn't work out because of weather.
Sometimes at the end of someone's life,

474
00:33:57.000 --> 00:34:00.960
you have sat by that bed for
so many days, you are emotionally and

475
00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:06.839
physically exhausted, and the idea of
going to the fabric store and getting that

476
00:34:06.920 --> 00:34:13.000
material to make a shroud just seems
so overwhelming. There's times that families really

477
00:34:13.679 --> 00:34:16.480
have thought that they would get all
of the stuff together, but the death

478
00:34:16.559 --> 00:34:22.039
happened too soon. And it's really
about being gentle, it's about finding your

479
00:34:22.119 --> 00:34:25.440
community, it's about letting your wishes
be known, and ultimately, I guess,

480
00:34:25.480 --> 00:34:30.960
going back to our earlier conversation,
being true to yourself, living your

481
00:34:31.039 --> 00:34:37.440
life to its fullest right now,
opening those eyes in the morning and knowing

482
00:34:37.639 --> 00:34:43.079
that this is you and you're doing
great. Oh I love it, Elizabeth.

483
00:34:43.079 --> 00:34:45.119
I love it so appreciate the message
and what you're up to in life.

484
00:34:45.880 --> 00:34:49.119
I'm glad our passcross. I only
wish we could be doing this in

485
00:34:49.119 --> 00:34:52.280
person. Wouldn't that be more fun? Yeah, then I could get all

486
00:34:52.360 --> 00:34:57.559
of your Thanksgiving recipes. Well,
I come through Oregon almost every single year,

487
00:34:57.599 --> 00:35:00.760
So the next time I come through
next summer, I'm going to look

488
00:35:00.760 --> 00:35:04.199
you up and come find you.
I'll buy you a Boring Oregon bumper sticker.

489
00:35:06.320 --> 00:35:08.239
Okay, let's grab our last break. I'm Alice Cortez, your host.

490
00:35:08.280 --> 00:35:10.800
We are on the air with Elizabeth
Fournier, the owner and operator of

491
00:35:10.840 --> 00:35:15.719
Cornerstone Funeral Services. She's the author
of the Green Burial guidebook Everything you Need

492
00:35:15.719 --> 00:35:20.280
to plan an affordable and bronly friendly
burial. She knows you today from Boring

493
00:35:20.320 --> 00:35:22.239
Oregon. After the break, we're
going to talk about the importance of giving

494
00:35:22.239 --> 00:35:25.199
things and living in gratitude. Stay
with us, We'll be right back.

495
00:35:37.559 --> 00:35:43.800
Alis Cortez is a speaker and engagement
and development catalyst. She designs and delivers

496
00:35:43.880 --> 00:35:49.599
professional development, leadership and engagement workshops
and can bring her expertise to your organization.

497
00:35:49.840 --> 00:35:53.880
She will help ignite meaningful development within
your workforce that will increase employee engagement,

498
00:35:53.960 --> 00:35:58.920
performance and retention. To learn more
or to invite Elise to speak to

499
00:35:59.000 --> 00:36:04.760
your organization, please visit her at
www dot Elisecortes dot com. She would

500
00:36:04.760 --> 00:36:15.119
welcome the opportunity to help get your
employees working on purpose. This is working

501
00:36:15.159 --> 00:36:21.000
on Purpose with Elise Cortes. To
reach our program today, send an email

502
00:36:21.039 --> 00:36:29.880
to Alise Alise at elisecortes dot com. Now back to working on purpose if

503
00:36:29.920 --> 00:36:32.199
you're just joining us. My guest
is Elizabeth Fournier, the owner and operator

504
00:36:32.199 --> 00:36:37.880
of Cornerstone Funeral Services in Boring,
Oregon, where she is affectionately known as

505
00:36:37.920 --> 00:36:42.079
the Green Reaper for her green burial
advocacy. She serves on the advisory board

506
00:36:42.400 --> 00:36:45.760
for the Green Burial Council, the
environmental certification organization set in the standard for

507
00:36:45.800 --> 00:36:50.679
green burial in North America. She
is also the author of the Green Burial

508
00:36:50.719 --> 00:36:53.599
guidebook Everything you Need to Plan an
Affordable, environmentally friendly Burial. I'm your

509
00:36:53.599 --> 00:36:58.719
host, Elise Cortes. Okay,
so for this last segment here, Elizabeth,

510
00:36:58.760 --> 00:37:00.960
I really wanted to focus on the
importance of giving things and living in

511
00:37:01.039 --> 00:37:07.079
gratitude and this show is intentionally airing
just before Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday,

512
00:37:07.519 --> 00:37:10.360
and I wanted to talk about gratitude
in it because I know how important it

513
00:37:10.440 --> 00:37:15.760
can be to situate and ground people
and give them a positive lens and possibility

514
00:37:15.760 --> 00:37:20.719
to view their lives from. Why
do you where? What's your perspective of

515
00:37:20.719 --> 00:37:25.360
gratitude and it's importance in our lives? I think gratitude is really everything.

516
00:37:25.599 --> 00:37:30.679
Gratitude is hand in hand with love, with friendship, with respect, all

517
00:37:30.760 --> 00:37:35.280
the big ones, all the key
players, though it's right there with that.

518
00:37:35.440 --> 00:37:39.800
It's really that idea of digging deep, asking questions which all lead to

519
00:37:39.840 --> 00:37:46.360
growth and expansion, and really trying
to figure out what is the best road

520
00:37:46.559 --> 00:37:52.800
not traveled. I somehow want to
remember, and that may be in manufacturing

521
00:37:52.800 --> 00:37:57.840
this, but I want to say
that I read somewhere that living in gratitude

522
00:37:58.159 --> 00:38:00.840
or working from gratitude actually just the
chemicals in our brain. Do you know

523
00:38:00.880 --> 00:38:07.320
anything about that? You know that
sounds totally right on. I think that

524
00:38:07.519 --> 00:38:09.639
you literally just go with it.
Let's just go with it, let's just

525
00:38:09.639 --> 00:38:14.159
say that. So I've got to
do my research and see, but I'm

526
00:38:14.239 --> 00:38:17.119
fairly certain I came across that.
But for me that whole space. It's

527
00:38:17.199 --> 00:38:21.639
part of also a practice that I
do in my leadership program work in terms

528
00:38:21.639 --> 00:38:25.679
of helping people get grounded in in
a place that opens to possibility, inspiration

529
00:38:27.000 --> 00:38:30.599
of all those things that you know, give us the motivation and energy which

530
00:38:30.639 --> 00:38:34.559
is just so important. So even
today when I was out, I was

531
00:38:34.599 --> 00:38:37.599
out grocery shopping for Thanksgiving, Elizabeth, and there were so many people.

532
00:38:37.639 --> 00:38:40.880
I heard some people saying thank you, thank you. Everybody's bumping into each

533
00:38:40.920 --> 00:38:45.039
other. And I don't know if
it's because I'm just I've got a lens

534
00:38:45.079 --> 00:38:47.960
for that, or if people are
more gracious during the week of Thanksgiving.

535
00:38:49.000 --> 00:38:52.159
I don't know. Do you have
any idea on that. Let's hope that's

536
00:38:52.159 --> 00:38:57.199
how it is. Let's hope that
once we get past that immediate level of

537
00:38:57.320 --> 00:39:00.559
Oh, I've got a judge down
the street and got to go and park

538
00:39:00.599 --> 00:39:01.639
my car, and I've got to
get in the store and I've got to

539
00:39:01.800 --> 00:39:06.800
do this. Hey, the upposite
tool is you've got money to buy stuff,

540
00:39:06.800 --> 00:39:08.199
and you've got feet they can get
you from point A to point B.

541
00:39:08.320 --> 00:39:13.079
And you've got someone to have a
mouth that you can put food into.

542
00:39:13.360 --> 00:39:16.360
It's all pretty darn good right,
it's all good. I would tend

543
00:39:16.440 --> 00:39:21.039
to agree with them. So along
those lines, I thought it would be

544
00:39:21.079 --> 00:39:23.119
it would be interesting and nice for
each of us to be able to say

545
00:39:23.119 --> 00:39:27.119
a bit about what we're grateful for. So you go first. What are

546
00:39:27.119 --> 00:39:31.400
you grateful for? Elizabeth? Oh? Okay. I am grateful for a

547
00:39:31.519 --> 00:39:39.000
husband who makes my life easier rather
than harder. I am grateful for a

548
00:39:39.199 --> 00:39:45.960
child who understands the wonderment of nature. I'm grateful for my farm animals,

549
00:39:45.960 --> 00:39:52.239
my goats and sheeps who hang out
and yell my name when I drive up

550
00:39:52.280 --> 00:39:58.039
the driveway and I brush their hair
and sing Madiachi style to them, and

551
00:39:58.199 --> 00:40:02.079
they are nice to me and forget
me and love me no matter how crappy

552
00:40:02.320 --> 00:40:07.719
my day was. Love it,
love it, love it. There's a

553
00:40:07.760 --> 00:40:12.039
lot that I could list, but
let me start by saying, I'm very

554
00:40:12.079 --> 00:40:17.239
grateful for my health. I'm grateful
that I'm a strong, toned, a

555
00:40:17.360 --> 00:40:21.480
healthy, fit, fifty three year
old woman who has a lot of energy

556
00:40:21.519 --> 00:40:25.239
and loves running around life. That's
one thing I'm very grateful for. I'm

557
00:40:25.360 --> 00:40:30.320
very grateful that I get to live
my purpose. I'm doing the work that

558
00:40:30.400 --> 00:40:32.840
I'm supposed to be doing too,
and it wasn't always so. And I'm

559
00:40:34.000 --> 00:40:38.679
very very grateful for that. I
every day pinch myself. I'm grateful that

560
00:40:38.880 --> 00:40:43.920
I get in my work to be
able to literally watch people transform in front

561
00:40:43.920 --> 00:40:46.840
of my eyes as they come to
understand themselves, come to a new higher

562
00:40:46.920 --> 00:40:54.000
level of understanding and perspective and performance
of themselves. It's just a precious thing

563
00:40:54.039 --> 00:40:59.400
to behold and to be part of
and connected to. And I'm really really

564
00:40:59.719 --> 00:41:05.480
great for my network of friends who
are very very important to me and support

565
00:41:05.519 --> 00:41:09.760
me and cheer me and just have
reached out and said, hey, I

566
00:41:09.840 --> 00:41:13.239
had a great idea for you and
your business today. Here it is.

567
00:41:13.760 --> 00:41:17.039
I'm grateful for all of that for
me. That's it's such a beautiful part

568
00:41:17.039 --> 00:41:22.280
of life to have all of that
integrated support and connection for me. What

569
00:41:22.360 --> 00:41:24.639
a great list, right, It's
not so bad like you say, it's

570
00:41:24.679 --> 00:41:28.280
just not so bad. Yeah,
who cares you have to stand in line

571
00:41:28.360 --> 00:41:31.039
or your abunyon aches. I mean
that's a good list. I think so

572
00:41:31.239 --> 00:41:36.000
too well. One of the things
I also wanted to get from you.

573
00:41:36.079 --> 00:41:38.480
We're getting closer on it at a
time on the show. But I would

574
00:41:38.519 --> 00:41:43.079
love it if you could share maybe
a story or two about a person that

575
00:41:43.119 --> 00:41:45.800
you've encountered in your work that has
navigated what you would consider to be a

576
00:41:45.840 --> 00:41:54.679
well lived life. H Okay,
there was a man who always was at

577
00:41:54.760 --> 00:42:00.960
peace. He came in and he
buried probably five six family members since I've

578
00:42:00.960 --> 00:42:06.159
been out here in my purposed Goape
Barn and Boring organ for the last thirteen

579
00:42:06.239 --> 00:42:08.480
years, and I asked him how
he was so at peace, and he

580
00:42:08.599 --> 00:42:14.280
shared with me that every night before
he goes to bed, he sets aside

581
00:42:14.280 --> 00:42:21.639
about five minutes and he expresses his
thanks to the universe and to the wall,

582
00:42:21.800 --> 00:42:23.599
to the dog. He just says
it out loud there, to the

583
00:42:23.639 --> 00:42:27.760
air of all the things he's really
thankful for. I guess that goes back

584
00:42:27.800 --> 00:42:32.519
to our gratitude conversation. He says
he used to write things down and just

585
00:42:34.159 --> 00:42:37.719
really be thankful for the things in
his life, but something about saying them,

586
00:42:37.840 --> 00:42:43.079
the physicality of hearing the words,
has really allowed him to realize how

587
00:42:43.119 --> 00:42:49.039
supported he is, and it's really
helped him train his brain to embrace gratitude.

588
00:42:49.280 --> 00:42:52.519
And he feels like that radiates through
all aspects of his life. And

589
00:42:52.559 --> 00:42:58.000
I think this man is onto something. Because if you've lost six people in

590
00:42:58.039 --> 00:43:04.679
your life in thirteen and you still
can walk around not being an angry person

591
00:43:05.239 --> 00:43:08.239
and not breaking down in tears constantly
in line at the post office, that's

592
00:43:08.320 --> 00:43:15.400
pretty fantastic. That's a life well
lived. Doesn't matter what he does for

593
00:43:15.440 --> 00:43:19.239
an income, it doesn't matter what
car he drives. This is a self

594
00:43:19.400 --> 00:43:22.800
actualized person who's doing the work.
Every night. He's putting in the time,

595
00:43:23.360 --> 00:43:28.159
just a mere five minutes to say, hey, universe, Hey you

596
00:43:28.320 --> 00:43:34.559
got my back. And even though
I miss my wife, I miss whomever,

597
00:43:35.039 --> 00:43:37.800
you know what, you're here for
me. And I still have those

598
00:43:37.840 --> 00:43:43.440
two eyes that are going to open
tomorrow morning when I get up. That's

599
00:43:43.559 --> 00:43:47.320
great. Another story, I think
they can go back to so many of

600
00:43:47.320 --> 00:43:52.679
the burials that I take care of. There was a young woman who was

601
00:43:52.760 --> 00:43:57.119
fighting breast cancer. And unfortunately,
I always hate to say the battle with

602
00:43:57.239 --> 00:44:00.599
cancer because well, you know,
you're you can't say you're really losing the

603
00:44:00.599 --> 00:44:06.199
battle, because the battle probably you
know, wasn't yours to win. It's

604
00:44:06.360 --> 00:44:08.679
just it's what happened, and it's
kind of what took you out of this

605
00:44:08.880 --> 00:44:14.280
area to transform you into something else. But this young woman knew she was

606
00:44:14.400 --> 00:44:16.000
dying, and she didn't know when, but she knew would be a slow,

607
00:44:16.079 --> 00:44:22.400
painful death. So she decided rather
than be upset about that or feel

608
00:44:22.599 --> 00:44:27.960
robbed that she was never going to
probably have a wonderful love of her life.

609
00:44:28.000 --> 00:44:30.599
She's probably not going to have children, She's never going to travel to

610
00:44:30.679 --> 00:44:36.400
Paris and do all these bucket list
things that people find important. Jumping out

611
00:44:36.440 --> 00:44:40.519
of an airplane. She decided she
is going to help somebody every day,

612
00:44:42.119 --> 00:44:47.599
And just from going through Twitter and
writing a note to somebody who she could

613
00:44:47.639 --> 00:44:52.599
tell could use a little pick me
up, or learning names of kids who

614
00:44:52.599 --> 00:44:57.559
were staying at the Ronald McDonald house
and sending them postcards. I mean,

615
00:44:57.840 --> 00:45:00.760
what a life well lived. When
this person and was laid into the ground

616
00:45:00.880 --> 00:45:08.079
on her sister's property, every single
person had a story of how amazing Lucy

617
00:45:08.320 --> 00:45:13.239
was. I mean, how many
people can have a funeral where every single

618
00:45:13.360 --> 00:45:20.119
person can share another story about what
wonderful things you did just because your time

619
00:45:20.159 --> 00:45:23.199
on earth was limited and you thought
you're going to use that time wisely.

620
00:45:23.800 --> 00:45:30.239
It must be so interesting, Elizabeth, to consider the range of experiences that

621
00:45:30.320 --> 00:45:35.920
you register when you help people put
to rest their loved one. And I

622
00:45:35.960 --> 00:45:38.480
remember when my grandfather died and the
number of stories that people of how he

623
00:45:38.559 --> 00:45:44.000
had helped, and people I didn't
even know that he had helped, and

624
00:45:43.639 --> 00:45:47.960
it was really really beautiful to get
to reminisce and see how people wanted to

625
00:45:49.440 --> 00:45:52.480
pay their respects and just really enjoy
the presence of who he was to them.

626
00:45:53.679 --> 00:45:58.239
And that's why we get together and
we gather, and that's why we

627
00:45:58.320 --> 00:46:00.480
all hold hands and sing a song, or we just sit in a room

628
00:46:01.079 --> 00:46:06.119
and eat donuts, because it matters. We're all connected. If you look

629
00:46:06.199 --> 00:46:08.760
up in the sky you see stars, guess what we all see. Those

630
00:46:08.760 --> 00:46:14.320
stars were all under one great moon, one great heaven of stars. We

631
00:46:14.360 --> 00:46:19.039
are all connected. And so to
keep that going on the planet, day

632
00:46:19.079 --> 00:46:23.360
in day out, it's really lovely. You know. I have to tell

633
00:46:23.400 --> 00:46:29.360
you that I'm remembering that I did
once years ago when I was living in

634
00:46:29.360 --> 00:46:31.599
Portland and I was like, I
think eighteen, and I got a looking

635
00:46:31.639 --> 00:46:37.280
for work and somebody what the company
that was trying to place me, said

636
00:46:37.280 --> 00:46:39.639
we've got something for you, and
here's how you get there. They told

637
00:46:39.679 --> 00:46:42.880
me about all the all this,
but they didn't say anything about what the

638
00:46:42.880 --> 00:46:45.559
company was or what the job was. I know where you're going. It

639
00:46:45.079 --> 00:46:51.039
was it was a funeral home.
I go to meet this guy. He

640
00:46:51.159 --> 00:46:54.559
was your polar opposite, Elizabeth.
He was just exactly what you think of

641
00:46:55.239 --> 00:47:00.719
for a mortician. He had the
really you know, fish handshe and you

642
00:47:00.760 --> 00:47:05.239
know, no life behind him.
And and I said, this is just

643
00:47:05.320 --> 00:47:07.440
not going to be for me.
And I'm but thanks very much, and

644
00:47:07.440 --> 00:47:08.960
good luck filling this. And I
got the heck out of there. So

645
00:47:09.360 --> 00:47:15.760
you you are just so beautifully a
beautiful human being, and it's it's been

646
00:47:15.840 --> 00:47:20.000
so wonderful to be able to share
you with my listeners and this being your

647
00:47:20.079 --> 00:47:22.920
calling and just how you're living your
life. And I just imagine that you're

648
00:47:22.960 --> 00:47:27.760
walking through and you've got like pixie
dust that you're spreading through the universe as

649
00:47:27.800 --> 00:47:30.239
oh my gosh, I love it. I'm going to tweet that I love

650
00:47:30.280 --> 00:47:32.199
that. Thank you for that.
That's what That's how you land for me.

651
00:47:32.400 --> 00:47:37.519
So I want to give you the
ability to close the shows as you

652
00:47:37.679 --> 00:47:39.760
like, your last your last thoughts
for maybe you know, in the last

653
00:47:39.760 --> 00:47:43.840
say a one minute or so,
what would you like to leave our listeners

654
00:47:43.840 --> 00:47:47.039
with today? Well, if you
do have somebody in your life who's passing

655
00:47:47.039 --> 00:47:51.599
away and you're going through the stress
of that, please remember to drink water.

656
00:47:52.239 --> 00:47:54.239
I think that's so easy, but
we forget to do that. We

657
00:47:54.360 --> 00:47:58.480
forget that we're still here and we
still need to move our body and drink

658
00:47:58.519 --> 00:48:04.159
water. I cannot starve us enough
about being gentle on yourself. And that

659
00:48:04.440 --> 00:48:10.239
just goes for daily things like having
to take a test, or having to

660
00:48:10.280 --> 00:48:14.880
sit in traffic, or going through
the loss of a loved one. Just

661
00:48:15.039 --> 00:48:17.519
be gentle on yourself. We are
not kind enough to each other, and

662
00:48:17.559 --> 00:48:22.239
we certainly are not kind enough to
ourselves. What a great way to finish

663
00:48:22.280 --> 00:48:25.920
and write before Thanksgiving. Elizabeth Fournier, thank you so much for joining me

664
00:48:27.239 --> 00:48:30.760
on working on Purpose. You have
been just a delight. Thank you you

665
00:48:30.800 --> 00:48:37.039
as well, and may all of
your recipes be sumptuous, spatially and palatially.

666
00:48:37.880 --> 00:48:43.000
What's hope So and if you want
to learn more about Elizabeth Fournier Green

667
00:48:43.039 --> 00:48:45.400
Burial or the work she and her
team are doing at Cornerstone Funeral, visit

668
00:48:45.440 --> 00:48:50.719
their website. It's Cornerstone Funeral dot
com. Join us next week when we

669
00:48:50.760 --> 00:48:54.559
talk with Angela Langlots a trademark attorney
about how to monetize our great ideas.

670
00:48:54.920 --> 00:48:58.239
See you there. Remember that workers
at least or thought of our life.

671
00:48:58.280 --> 00:49:04.920
So let's work on purpose. We
hope you've enjoyed this week's program. Be

672
00:49:05.039 --> 00:49:08.599
sure to tune in to Working on
Purpose, featuring your host Alis Cortes,

673
00:49:08.880 --> 00:49:14.960
each week on the Voice America Empowerment
Channel. This week, find your life's

674
00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:15.480
purpose at work