Lessons from Dying

Death is a taboo.  No one wants to discuss it or face it because the fear of it is greater than the reality. I remember reading some article years ago that when asked thousands of people what their biggest fear was they said “death: mine or someone near to me.”  This type of death we have been taught to fear is an illusion and only a transition.  Now three months later I have woken to deeper lessons of dying.Lesson 1:  The hardest part of dying is waking up.  I traveled to a beautiful place.  The light that embraced me felt like nothing here on earth.  Makes you wonder why anyone would want to return, huh?  I asked that question for a month and a half.  We return from that experience just because we must (it doesn’t help that someone is pulling your butt away from the light either).  There’s no great mystery to it.  There are moments in my days that seem to stop me for a bit and I return to that place of safety, love, and omnipotence.  In waking up there is the melting of illusion.  Life is a magical experience.  Yet, most people take it for granted, bogged down with the control, anxiety, and fear of living the lengths and widths of such a fortitude.Lesson 2:  Your body is a great wardrobe.  Every morning I have to re-size myself to fit into this skin.  I wake with such immensity.  That was a huge issue when I returned from the “beyond.”  I didn’t fit into my body.  There was this expansion and greatness that didn’t modify to what I knew was Millie’s body.  I looked around me and saw everyone’s light so much larger than their costume.  I kept asking myself, “How do I get inside and stay in there?”  I stopped trying.  I just went with it.  Your body is the best outfit you will ever have.  Treat it with kindness and love.  Give it the consideration it deserves.   Your heart beats to keep you alive along with every organ in that outfit.  Love it!Lesson 3:  Growth is marvelous; stagnation sucks; laughter is the teacher of all.  This doesn’t read like a lesson but I promise it is one of my favorites.  I don’t know the problem anymore to anything.  I see the potential to the story, the event, the issue, and the whatever.  I see the drama behind the words when someone is sharing with me the woes and stagnation.  And, then I witness that turning those situations around and noticing the ridiculous insanity to them creates laughter.  Growth is a conscious effort to move beyond what is not real. We all have the capacity to move past what doesn’t serve us, or causes us hurt.  Nothing is easy.  If it was then we would not learn from it at all.  Let joy be your travel agent through these stories you keep reliving.Lesson 4: Love is the source.  It is the only source of the universe.  It is the only source of your being.  Love is all.  You want love?  Look in the mirror.  It starts with you.  Forgive others.  What they think of you is their own issues and a reflection of their own insecurities.  The beginning and end of all is you.Lesson 5:   Live now.  Don’t wait for the children to leave home, the parents to pass on, the retirement check to start rolling in, and the won’ts and can’ts that make absolutely no sense to the present moment.  Live for today!  Make a gratitude journal.  Walk outside for five minutes.  Be alone.  Be with people.  Laugh at yourself at least one time every hour.  Look at the sky and its infinite wonders.  Look at yourself and your greatness.  Live every moment with awareness that you are on borrowed time.   You know that feeling when you go on vacation and everything is just perfectly special?  The moments are full of joy and just being away from your normal life is soothing?  Well that’s your privilege for living.  Make your life a vacation.  Even in vacations there’s work to be done, but you don’t mind it, right?  Play!  Pick a childlike moment and return to it.  Life is what you make of it.I would be lying if I said that my life is peachy ALL the TIME. I still ride the emotional roller coaster of struggles and disappointments that then dip into man-made stories of doubt.  If everything was enlightening all the time I wouldn’t stop and learn anything.  The difference now is that I understand why those lessons appear in my path.  I also desire to grasp and incorporate everything to the wholeness of me. I am grateful for visiting with deep emotions: anger, sorrow, joy, forgiveness, compassion and love (to name a few).   I believed in magic before dying.  Now I live it every day.  You go do the same!!!