do you have a dying practice?

We all know death is inevitable, yet denying this fact (see: Ernest Becker) seems to be our central preoccupation.

As a pediatric ICU nurse, I was constantly reminded, as I watched children die, of another fact we all know, but would prefer to bury: the moment of our death is unpredictable, and could happen at any moment.

How much tension lives in us because of our denial of death?

As the cliche goes, the only way out is through, and in this case, the way out is through consciously adopting a dying practice.

A dying practice can take infinite forms, and is a process with a beginning and no end.

Here are just a few ideas for practice…

Lie on the ground in a comfortable position and do nothing…imagine you are dead, and are unable to do anything…

Die to ruminations of what others think of you…

Take on an “impossible” physical goal that demands every day commitment, and follow through with it, dying to your preferences for comfort, to your mind’s ideas of limitations…

Die to your family’s expectations for you…

Die to the lie that your worth depends on your productivity, your beauty, your weight, your wealth, your service to others, your spiritual attainments…

Die to the lie that you are separate…

Die to one habit that diminishes your life force…note that this could be a way of being in a relationship…

Our life is not separate from our death, and without a conscious dying practice, we never taste the freedom of living fully.