Excerpt from 'The A to Z of Practical Wisdom'

DEATH: Awareness of Your Mortality

It is helpful to contemplate the fact of your impending death long before the actual event. Retrieve death from the dusty back shelf and bring it into your daily life as something that could happen at any time. Contemplating your own death is not a morbid thing – in fact, it can be quite amusing.

After a weekend retreat on death and dying, I was standing in the shower one morning and suddenly turned the water to freezing cold. I stood there, gasping while the icy water rained down on me, thinking: Death could appear like this, a sudden unexpected interlude in my daily life. Feel the shock factor: it works.

Another exercise I sometimes use is ‘The final day.’ I pretend this is my last day on earth and I see everything as if for the last time. It is amazing how vivid the colors in flowers are, how precious the smile of your child when you imagine that you are seeing it for the last time. It helps me to deeply appreciate the everyday wonder of life.

When you read about a sudden death, don’t get into the habit of thinking that it only happens to other people. If you continue to believe this fallacy, when death does come knocking on your door you will be completely unprepared. The shock will be ten times worse, because you never allowed yourself to think that sudden death could touch you.

Movies and news stories contribute to the distancing of death with gory images of war and terrorist attacks. Instead, the media needs to show death in more ordinary surroundings. It would help to dispel the fear and mystery surrounding the natural process of death. Eventually, it would allow our children to grow up unafraid of dying.


Legacy

There is something you can do today to ensure that death does not find you unprepared: decide your legacy. Think of three things you want to be known for after you die. Imagine someone at your funeral says, “What three things will you remember about him/her?” Here is your chance to provide the answer before you go!


My answer to that question is simple:

I want to be remembered as a loving wife and mother.
I want to be remembered as a successful author whose books inspired thousands.
I want to be remembered as a life coach who made a difference in people’s lives.

Take five minutes now to decide what your legacy will be. If you are not already living that legacy, determine to make it happen as soon as possible. Waiting for ‘the right time’ is like saying “I will die when I am old.” Maybe you will and maybe you won’t.


Death never takes the wise man by surprise. He is always ready to go.
(John De La Fontaine)