A few days ago I had a conversation with a friend about death,
A conversation that offered me deep reflection on life.
I would like to share this story with the intention of inviting you into your own inquiry around life,
Death and aliveness.
Aliveness My friend shared with me that she lost someone,
A past lover,
A dear friend.
His name was Carlos.
He was sick and in hospice towards the end,
Surrounded by some of the people he loved,
One of them being my friend.
She shared her experience of being with him and how she witnessed him in his last days.
There was something beautiful about it.
I noticed my tears started to flow as she was speaking,
And at first I could not even tell why,
Not that I had to.
However,
As I reflected,
I realized I was touched by the beauty of life and death.
What she shared stayed with me,
Offering space for reflection.
I found certain key elements that touched me.
I would love to share them with you now.
The first one is nature,
Our element.
One of Carlos' last wishes was to be outside.
Even towards the very end,
He signaled with his hand to ask to have his bed turned towards the window,
So he can see the sky.
I find it beautiful how we are all pulling to nature even at the moment of passing,
Where we belong to and long to be,
To connect us to presence,
To something deeper.
The second one is the self.
My friend shared how she noticed Carlos having the same habits,
Small quirky things,
As he used to do.
We are shaped during our time here,
And yet we are loved with all of it,
Just as he was until the very end.
The third one is togetherness and love.
I find it deeply touching how loved ones gathered and stayed beside him until the end.
And even after the goodbye,
The love stays.
All the grief we feel is love.
Can you see how beautiful,
How much love there is that we can feel in life?
And how lucky are we to do so?
The fourth element is self-expression and co-creation.
What brings aliveness?
Our contribution to the world,
Whatever that may be.
For Carlos,
That was music.
He used to make music together with my friend.
Even in the last days,
He felt the urge to create more,
Almost not realizing he does not have much time left.
He wrote lyrics for a song,
And then played his harp.
And as he was playing,
My friend started to create a melody for his words.
She is intending to finish the co-creation,
Even though Carlos has now passed.
I'm so looking forward to hearing this song.
You can actually also hear their music in this recording.
And the last one is the fragileness of life.
Even just having someone describe the moment of passing makes you realize how short life is,
How fragile.
None of us know how much time we have left.
So how do you choose to spend your time?
I would love to offer you two inquiries to reflect on.
You can choose to take a few moments to feel what comes up within you.
Or even take a piece of paper and pen to write down the questions and reflect more later on in writing.
The first question is,
How do you hold yourself back from living life fully?
How do you hold yourself back from living life fully?
The second question is,
What makes you feel alive?
What makes you feel alive?
You can always come back to these questions to explore more.
For now,
I would like to close by thanking my friend who introduced Carlos to me through her words and through the love she holds for him.
Though I never knew Carlos,
I feel deep gratitude towards him for reminding me of the beauty of life through the way he lived his final chapter.
This is for his honor.
I also thank you for listening and I hope it offers you some valuable insights,
A moment of stillness,
Or a reminder of how lucky we are to experience this journey of life.
