What can death teach us?

 

This may sound strange, but a good death doesn't necessarily mean someone in her 80's passing in her own home surrounded by her family.  A bad death doesn't necessarily mean someone in his 20's dying alone of a terminal cancer.  

 

Spiritually speaking, it is the quality of our consciousness at the moment of transitioning which determines how we die.  Do we transition in peace?  Or do we transition in fear? ... Do we transition in love?  Or do we transition in anger? ...Do we still cling? Or are we ready to let go? The state of our mind is what matters. 

 

We are encouraged to face our mortality as an opportunity to become more present and loving, an opportunity for emotional and spiritual healing, for self realization.  

 

If we have any unfinished business, we don't need to wait until our last breath to reconcile or forgive, or let go. We have these opportunities every single day.  We can start with ourselves.  Love and Forgive. And let go. Love yourself and forgive yourself first....then others, because we cannot know how to love others until we know how to love ourselves first. 

 

This kind of love cannot be whole and complete until we realize we are not separate. We are always connected to the Higher Intelligence, the Divine Existence, the Alpha and the Omega. Death teaches us this, yet we don't have to wait until our last breath to find out the Truth. 

 

 

 Quotes from Spiritual Teachers

 

 

Father Richard Rohr: 

 

"Death and dying are two sides of the same coin; we cannot have one without the other. Each time we choose to surrender, each time we trust the dying, our faith is led to a deeper level, and we discover a Larger Self underneath." 

 

Ram Dass: 

 

"Death has been hidden and medicalized in our society. Doctors often consider death a failure of their job. But death is a natural transition, not a failure." 

 

"Death is completely safe. It's like taking off a tight shoe... It is not something we should fear. Just keep opening your heart." 

  

"The body dies, the thinking mind dies, attachments fall away. But the deep love in the heart, the love of the soul goes on... When someone you love dies, the love continues."  

  

"Each person should die in the way that feels right to them." 

 

When someone dies, RD would say: "They have completed their work in this life." 

  

Eckhart Tolle:

 

"As long as the egoic mind is running your life, you cannot truly be at ease... Since the ego is a derived sense of self, it needs to identify with external things. It needs to be both defended and fed constantly.  The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, personal and family history, belief systems, and often also political, nationalistic, racial, religious and other collective identifications.  None of these is you.  

 

Do you find this frightening?  Or is it a relief to know this?  All of these things you will have to relinquish sooner or later. Perhaps you find it as yet hard to believe... You will know it at the latest when you feel death approaching. Death is a stripping away of all that is not you.  The secret of life is to "die before you die" - and find that there is no death."  

 

Sadhguru:

 

"Death is not the end of life. Death is simply the end of the body. If you have lived with a very deep identification with the physical body, the more you will struggle with death. Only when you confront your mortality... does the longing to go beyond become genuine." 

 

The Bhagavad Gita: 

 

"Our real Self never dies, for it is never born; it is eternal." 

 

Paramahansa Yogananda:

 

"The wave comes to the shore, and then goes back to the sea; it is not lost. It becomes one with the Ocean, or returns again in the form of another wave." 

 

 Thich Nhat Hanh: 

 

"No coming, no going. 

No after, no before.

I hold you close to me.

I release you to be so free,

because I am in you

and you are in me." 

 

Saint Francis of Assisi: 

 

"For it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."

 

Unknown Author: "Go toward the Light. Don't be afraid. Simply let go and go toward the Light."    

 

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What is an End-of-life doula? 

 

How can Mindfulness help in this process ? 

 

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To reach Emily:  ComfortNPeace23@gmail.com  or  (970) 460-6575