Dying Before Death

The small death comes to us in many unique ways because all forms are temporary. To live life fully is to include death within it.

When we can accept this as reality — and that is helpful, because it simply is reality — we begin to truly relax and remain open within the present moment.

When we realize that nothing ever truly dies, but merely changes form or meaning, it can bring peace.

It is our earthly attachment to things, situations, people, identities, worldviews, and so much more that turns change into an experience of dying.

Whatever falls away always leaves us feeling momentarily helpless. Naked. And this too is death: the death of the illusion of control, permanent happiness, personal peace, or certainty.

The more we master openness, wonder, and the ability to let go during our lives, the more effortlessly Life unfolds through us.

This path of wisdom reveals itself gradually. In the beginning it is difficult, but over time it increasingly becomes a way of Being.

When we learn to die while still alive and surrender ourselves to whatever current life brings, we become anchored in the original field

The field that always exists and always carries us. Then we learn to trust and rest in the divine ground beneath all things.

We no longer invest ourselves in controlling earthly life. We move freely and openly, dare to enjoy the Now when it feels beautiful, and understand that nothing on the earthly level remains fixed forever.

Every death of control, attachment, and resistance is simultaneously a deeper birth into freedom, flow, and openness

And when the moment finally comes for us to leave behind our physical form, this ultimate surrender to form — your form — has already been accepted.

We have already encountered our true ground while living, and within that trust we effortlessly return to it.

(Inspired by the beautiful Sufi saying: “Die before you die.”)

Astrid Esmeralda 
www.dichterbijmij.com