I’ve become obsessed with death. It’s everywhere. And it fascinates me. It’s both illuminating and dark, it’s mysterious and brings me closer to my truth.
Death is at the end of each day when I say farewell to the version of myself that was. Death is at the completion of a yoga class when my cells have been renewed, eyes brand new and my body washed clean. Death was at my Father’s funeral where we gathered to honour his life.
Death is everywhere.
And on the other side of death is something equally as mesmerising.
Rebirth; new life; recreation.
Everything has a beginning, middle and end. And when we over grip or when we hold onto the things that were never meant for us to keep, we resist this natural cycle of life.
Look at trees as the summer nears its end. They don’t cling onto their leaves. Nor does the snake try desperately to hold onto its skin. Both are in synch with a mysterious flow of which they do not fight. The difference between them and us is an ego; an over thinking mind; the over controller.
The death of anything – no matter how heart breaking or hard – always makes space for something new. New life, new opportunities, new doors to walk through, new lessons, new ways of viewing the world.
And this is why death fascinates, often terrifies me and inspires me to live fully.
I wonder if, in our final moments of this life we will lean into all the ways we held back or all the things we did that brought us freedom?
I don’t want to be taking my last breath regretting not taking that trip, nor making that risky decision based on love and not trusting life. I want to step into the death portal knowing full well how much I showed up and how much I loved. No doubt I’ll have a few unhealed relationships to face and wounds untended to but I want to the weight to be leaning into love, not regret.
How about you?
The Practice: Letting Go
What if we were taught to let go as children? What if we could teach ourselves this now and could teach our own friends and children this tomorrow?
Next time you feel an emotion that seems to be over riding your judgement and effecting your clarity, take two. This is important and not to be skimmed over.
- Close your mouth and slow down your breath.
- Close your eyes (if this is appropriate or feels more grounding) and notice where you feel the ‘over-gripping’ in your body?
- Stay with the tension or the feeling or the emotion. Welcome it. Let it be. Include it. For however long it wants to be there.
- Eventually as the sensation moves, transforms, transmutes let that expansion move into your every part.
- You’ve just experienced inner alchemy. Take a moment to be in reverence to what just occurred and your ability to live through it.
The sensation often wants to be acknowledged, the emotion felt, the story seen. And when we welcome whatever is present, we give it permission to dissolve.
Your emotions and feeling states also have a beginning, middle and end. It’s just that we get conditioned, as children, to hold onto them, to not feel them, to not express them.
Let go to let The Great Mystery in. Somehow this force has a grand plan far beyond what our small minds can conceive. And when the show’s over at the end of this life, let’s marvel in all the experiences we said yes to, the seasons we lived and the loving moments we leaned into as a result of having let go.
Big love,
KK