death_fractalA Post About Life

I’ve been thinking a lot about death and dying lately. It is a season of dying~ many souls around me are in varying stages of passing through the end stages of life. For me it brings the question “How do I live”? The saying “As you live, so shall you die” comes into my consciousness over and over.
Dying is a natural part of living, like being born. As I think about it, birth and death are THE 2 guarantees in life, everything in between is a complete crapshoot.
For many of us, birth is a highly medically managed event, and death often times is too. What is it about these mysterious transitions that requires this kind of management? For a beautiful and soulful birth story, click here.

Imagine if all beings could come to this kind of welcome and care.

As for death, I’ve had the privilege these past weeks to sit with a woman, a client, a friend who is in the active stages of dying. We have talked together and not talked. My tears fall while she sleeps. I’m struck by the dignity and beauty of her departure process. My eyes overflow as I type, this woman and her family have opened another possibility for dying. They all sleep together in the living room- where her bed is as the stairs are too much for her now. Tucked in together, they slumber. When she wakes, someone is right there, attentive to her needs. This touches me. Deeply. This family has embraced the living while the dying happens. This is sacred and holy ground. Simple, beautiful and dignified.

So how are you living today? With all the beautiful souls around me preparing to take their leave, I’m brought again to the question how do I want to live this one beautiful and sometimes fragile life? What matters to me? Who are the people I want to spend my time with? How do I want to lovingly take care of this body I’m in? How do I eat to live? Who do I want to talk to? Where are there words unsaid that need to be revealed and heard? Death IS a certainty.

How will you live today?