Death Awakens Us To Life

I spent a beautiful day this past week with my aunt Doreen who now, in the late stages of cancer, has moved into a hospice in Vancouver. It is both enormously sad and very beautiful to be with someone at the end of their life. She’s at peace and radiant with love. Her grandchildren and children are with her now 24 hours/day. Doreen’s life was love, and what she gave out has come full circles back to her. She is dying as she lived – in a state of love and peace. She has certainly had her struggles but has persisted to come to peace with it all. It was very moving to be there with her and our family.

The world teaches us that our worth is in more – more stuff, more success, more technology, more gadgets, more busyness, and on and on. Death strips us of everything we think matters, and leaves us with all that really matters. Death teaches us that peace comes in being with what is, simply being present with love, not in the pursuit of more. Death, when conscious, awakens us to life.