Death: Lessons Learned

Last night, a close friend of mine told me that his friend had passed away. He had a heart attack while playing soccer. Talking to him about it, I found myself thinking more about death. It is such a normal everyday occurrence and it's happening all around us when we don't even realize it. I am so lucky that at this moment, while typing this, I am breathing another breath. As cliché as this sounds, life is precious and it is so short.
I have been reading a book called "Zen and and the Art of Happiness." Before my friend told me about his friend's passing, I had just finished reading something that was eye-opening for me, even though I knew it all along:

"We imagine an endless future stretching out ahead of us and an endless past stretching out behind. We believe that where we exist is the moment we call now, a moment that is a tiny hairline separating the future from the past. In actuality, the reverse is true; all there is and was and ever will be is an endless now. Is it not always now? The wise ones understand this truth: This moment we call now is all that exists" (Prentiss).

In that realization and in reading the rest of the chapter, I gained a more solid awareness that what I do in the present should be celebrated. I know it's not going to happen overnight, but I really want to work on not taking things so seriously and going for what makes me happy. I don't know what is going to happen to me five/ten minutes from now. I could walk into the kitchen and my heart could stop. But right before that moment, I want to make sure that I was in good spirits. Doesn't everyone?
I could go on and on about my thoughts on death and new life. I am constantly growing in my spirituality which makes the thought of death a little bit easier for me. Don't get me wrong, every time I see a picture of my grandfather I get very emotional, but I learn not to dwell on it and to say a prayer for him. He brought me so much happiness and taught me so much when he was alive and I take those experiences to my present day. All good and bad things from my past make today the best day :)


"Seeing through to essential nature is the window of enlightenment." -Hakuun Yasutani Roshi