Life can be dangerous, full of unexpected happenings, and generally has an abrupt ending.  It is frail and fleeting…. and precious.  Knowing all of that, one might imagine that we would appreciate the sacredness of every moment of experience.

The opportunity is certainly available… to recognize the precarious beauty of now.  This very moment will never come again.  Although it may be gruesome or terrifying, ugly or disgusting, it is, nevertheless, our unique experience.

There is a danger in pretending otherwise, in wishing for another now.  There is a danger that we may miss our life… while we wait for it to happen.

If we are habitually looking forward (or backward), there is a danger that satisfaction, contentment, and joy might never be experienced.

Mahatma Gandhi said “Live as if you were to die tomorrow.  Learn as if you were to live forever”.

I suggest that the living needs to be full of loving.  Loving that we have the gifts we have been given – whatever they may be.  And loving that we are able to give those gifts until the moment of death… and perhaps beyond.

Know what happens when your food and yard ‘waste’ is composted?  Eventually, with a little water, air, and time, soil is produced and can be used to grow more life.

How about the decomposition of your body?

“Composting is an aerobic method (meaning that it requires the presence of air) of decomposing organic solid wastes.^[1] It can therefore be used to recycle organic material. The process involves decomposition of organic material into a humus-like material, known as compost, which is a good fertilizer for plants.”

If your corpse is given the opportunity to rest in ground that is alive, it too will become healthy soil.

However, our current burial practices include techniques to avoid decomposition by embalming the body, putting it in a polyester and steel lined casket which is then dropped into a polymer-lined concrete vault creating a long-term toxic soup, some of which seeps into our water supply.

Or one could opt for cremation and create a giant carbon footprint on the way out.

Green burial is an option for corpse disposal that allows the body to decompose naturally and nourish the soil.  Think about it.

 

How do you want to die?  Since death is certain, it might be good to consider the possibilities.

Do you want to die at home?  Or in a forest?  Or on the high seas?

While cooking?  Skydiving?  Making love?

Do you want to be alone?  With family or friends?  Hooked up to life saving machines, surrounded by strangers?

Think about it.  Then talk about it.  Then write it down, and share it with those who care.  That’s called a directive.

There are many names for this document.  Advance Directive is common.  In Nova Scotia, Personal Health Care Directive is used.  The name is not important.  The contents are.

Unless you contemplate, discuss, and document your end-of-life wishes, and choose a delegate (someone to speak for you if and when you are unable), there is no reason to expect that anyone will know what you want.

And putting it off is equally foolish.  Death comes without warning.  If you are lucky, it will not come until you are old and frail and ready to go.  But, as we know, every day many folks die unexpectedly… and in bizarre circumstances.

Do not continue to move this task to the bottom of your list.  You may need your directive TODAY.

Are we living under a cloud of deception?  Is the pretense of ‘immortality’ serving us?  Can we really be happy with newer stuff?  With the latest apps?  Or flitting from one trend to the next?  Having more friends on FaceBook?

Not embracing our shared mortality for even a moment may cause us to stray from the truth.  All experience, no matter how profound, is temporary.  So how can we know that we are not deceiving ourselves?  What is mortality anyway?

Unfortunately, Merriam-Webster is not all that helpful – ‘the quality or state of being mortal’.  Being mortal means being subject to death, to the temporariness of our condition – at any time, in any moment.  Nothing stays the same.  Thoughts come and go.  Feelings, no matter how intense, arise and cease (eventually).  Our friends morph into our enemies – or vice versa.  Even the idea that this is a sad state of affairs will pass.  We are blessed with continuous opportunities to develop appreciation.  

Perhaps getting used to this reality now is good practice for the seemingly enormous change that comes when it is time to give up our body…. this mortal existence.  

Now is the time in one’s life to make discoveries.  Now is always the time… for most things.  The past is no longer here…. and, try as we might, we cannot change it.  The future has not yet arrived, and, though we make plans, we know that those plans are tentative, and that, despite our best efforts, everything changes.  Often unexpectedly.

So what is to be discovered now?  And how do we go about it?

Perhaps in each moment the experience of a lifetime can be discovered …. infinite beauty and delight…. boundless appreciation… love.  What happens if we stay still for this moment and simply notice what we see, hear, smell, taste, feel…. fully…. without commentary, judgment, analysis?  Perhaps a discovery!

This habit – of being fully present and appreciative – will serve us well at the time of death.