Death Practices

Chapter 12 ("Death Awareness Practice") of How to Wake Up by Toni Bernhard describes four ways to reflect upon the ultimate destiny of all life:

• This Could Be My Death Day — for a few moments daily, gently and compassionately, recollect "This could be my last day."
• Goodbye Forever — when you take leave of someone, say to yourself "Goodbye forever", and ponder the possibility that you will never see them alive again.
• The Mystery of Death's Time — remember that there's no schedule for when someone will die; whether young or old, accept their death calmly and say, "Theirs was a life that lasted X years."
• Grasping Dissolves at the Moment of Death — ponder the fact that "At the moment of death, all that I'm grasping will be of no use"; all judgments, possessions, worries, etc. will go away.

Bernhard concludes:

Finally, living with conscious awareness of death is making each day more meaningful to me. I feel as if I'm living more purposefully and that I'm more open to my moment-to-moment experience—awake to life as it is. Just this moment. Just this.

(cf. Bennett on Stoicism (1999-04-24), Nothing There in the First Place (2015-05-31), ...) - ^z - 2017-01-13