I have committed myself to a year long workshop and life experiment entitled “A Year to Live”. A small group of us are meeting monthly for one calendar year to discuss our fears, desires and attachments regarding the notion that ‘none of us gets out of this alive’. I’ve only gone to two sessions so far; and yet, I know it’s changing my life. I’m changing my ways.
With two small children, this concept rocks me to my core. With enough Buddhist-y type study, I am fascinated and excited. I am thrilled to be saying ‘yes’ to digging deep inside myself to examine ALL. THE. THINGS. By that I mean that I am appreciating the level of angst, fear, and overall avoidance that I witness surfacing. I am also simultaneously adoring feeling an increasing sense of immense gratitude for what my life has been.
Stephen Levine, who I was first introduced to with Who Dies, wrote A Year to Live as a guide in teaching us how to live each moment, hour and day mindfully, as if it were all that was left. In Who Dies, he writes “When you begin to recognize that you are the path, that all of life is but a reflection of the mind, then each experience becomes an opportunity to free yourself from your prison. At this point, you begin to see that life is an opportunity for wholeness, for opening to the truth. You start investigating ‘What closes me from this essential spaciousness of being? Who am I, really?’”
Now, I realize that this isn’t an easy task but nor does it have to be arduous. At least this is what I’m telling myself. I have known for years that there is no destination, that it’s all about the journey. That’s why I love this excerpt...I am the path. What matters is how I choose to act and how I choose to be in any and all given moments. That I can stand in integrity breathing, or counting if I need to :) , when my 4 year old is not listening to me. That getting to school or the store or wherever on time, would not matter if this were my last year to breathe this beautiful earth air with him. I do however admit that I am so grateful to be doing this with a group of people, because what does feels arduous is the process of improving my consistency in this intention. I look forward to going to this workshop to confess my transgressions. I look forward to being held accountable to change these habits of stinginess, hurriedness, anxiety, impatience, and intolerance. It’s hard to keep forgetting and then remembering and then processing the emotional tax of feeling badly for not doing better.
I am going to die. Someday. We all are. It’s the one thing we all have in common. Being mindful of this helps me live my life in a more extraordinary way. It helps me appreciate each moment differently. It helps me know when to choose my battles. And it might even help me realize that there aren’t any ‘battles’ in the first place. Being mindful of my mortality is turning out to be a dear companion who is guiding me down the path of love. I am this path. I can be this Love.
Please come join me this Thursday as the next Investigation: Community at One Being Wellness Revolution is just this topic - Death and Dying: The Impact on Our Living. Panel discussion members are Pavandeep Kaur, Death Doula, Lisa Goedert, Natural Death Care Intern and Karen van Vuuren, co-founder of The Natural Funeral.
Thursday, March 28th, 2019
7-8 pm
One Being Wellness Revolution
409 S. Public Rd. Lafayette, CO 80026 Suite B
With two small children, this concept rocks me to my core. With enough Buddhist-y type study, I am fascinated and excited. I am thrilled to be saying ‘yes’ to digging deep inside myself to examine ALL. THE. THINGS. By that I mean that I am appreciating the level of angst, fear, and overall avoidance that I witness surfacing. I am also simultaneously adoring feeling an increasing sense of immense gratitude for what my life has been.
Stephen Levine, who I was first introduced to with Who Dies, wrote A Year to Live as a guide in teaching us how to live each moment, hour and day mindfully, as if it were all that was left. In Who Dies, he writes “When you begin to recognize that you are the path, that all of life is but a reflection of the mind, then each experience becomes an opportunity to free yourself from your prison. At this point, you begin to see that life is an opportunity for wholeness, for opening to the truth. You start investigating ‘What closes me from this essential spaciousness of being? Who am I, really?’”
Now, I realize that this isn’t an easy task but nor does it have to be arduous. At least this is what I’m telling myself. I have known for years that there is no destination, that it’s all about the journey. That’s why I love this excerpt...I am the path. What matters is how I choose to act and how I choose to be in any and all given moments. That I can stand in integrity breathing, or counting if I need to :) , when my 4 year old is not listening to me. That getting to school or the store or wherever on time, would not matter if this were my last year to breathe this beautiful earth air with him. I do however admit that I am so grateful to be doing this with a group of people, because what does feels arduous is the process of improving my consistency in this intention. I look forward to going to this workshop to confess my transgressions. I look forward to being held accountable to change these habits of stinginess, hurriedness, anxiety, impatience, and intolerance. It’s hard to keep forgetting and then remembering and then processing the emotional tax of feeling badly for not doing better.
I am going to die. Someday. We all are. It’s the one thing we all have in common. Being mindful of this helps me live my life in a more extraordinary way. It helps me appreciate each moment differently. It helps me know when to choose my battles. And it might even help me realize that there aren’t any ‘battles’ in the first place. Being mindful of my mortality is turning out to be a dear companion who is guiding me down the path of love. I am this path. I can be this Love.
Please come join me this Thursday as the next Investigation: Community at One Being Wellness Revolution is just this topic - Death and Dying: The Impact on Our Living. Panel discussion members are Pavandeep Kaur, Death Doula, Lisa Goedert, Natural Death Care Intern and Karen van Vuuren, co-founder of The Natural Funeral.
Thursday, March 28th, 2019
7-8 pm
One Being Wellness Revolution
409 S. Public Rd. Lafayette, CO 80026 Suite B
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