"Life is a death sentence
in which each of us is given
a unique period of life."
-- Albert K. Strong
What I love about spiritual teachings that I have experienced is not that they prepare me for death or to be unafraid of that inevitable point of the life journey. No. What I love about them is the way they prepare me to practice living a more awakened life--to be more aware of the fullness of life within me and all around me. To be here now. To appreciate more. To love more. To be upset far less, and to convert from being upset to being happy very quickly.
The idea of death used to scare me. I know it can come unexpectedly, and it can also come with a time of knowing it is coming soon. I've experienced the deaths of family members and others in both ways. Sometimes the coming soon part can last quite a while, even years. But, in the end, it isn't the death that matters, it is the living.
No matter what or who, there are always those who are 'left behind' so to speak--who are left here to live for some time longer, and that time is unknown generally. Some hold on to someone's death as if it devastates their life. They mourn for long periods, even years. They have paused their living of life to pay attention to an event that has nothing to do with them. Truly, they are feeling sorry for themselves as they hang on. That act is not focused on the death but what the living person feels they are now lacking. In other words, it is focused on themselves. But we each choose how we will feel about someone else's death.
Instead of mourning there could be joyful celebration. This requires getting out of ourselves and into celebrating that life of the one who died. It helps also to realize that death is not the cessation of life, but a transition to another form of life--a non-physical form. As I realize this, there is no loss, for they are not gone, they have merely and delightfully transformed, and they are still here, though my eyes are not designed to 'see' them.
It is said that life is for the living, and the living part can be re-energized, or refocused by the death of someone we know, as well as the thoughts of our own potential transition. It could then be said that death is to enhance the living. Or, certainly it could be.
As I learn to let go of the seemingly important stuff all around me, along with all my cares and woes, I can experience more of what it is to be alive and to learn to appreciate this life and this living, and to live it more fully.
It begins by being open to the spirit within me. We all have that, yet we may not yet be aware of it. As I align myself with that spirit within me, the God within me, if you will, I am in a place of joy, love, appreciation, knowledge I didn't know I was capable of, and a freedom that requires no defense. I get to choose it all, or not. I get to choose to mourn or not. I get to choose to celebrate the lives of others and that of my own, or not. I get to choose to love or not--to appreciate or not.
Is death really a reminder to live and to enjoy life? I think, yes.
I Choose To Focus On Delight.
Spread Some Joy Today--by laying down that tired old rope you've been holding on to. Feel the joy of that act of choosing to live!
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