For me when I think about death, fear isn’t really so much the first emotion that visits me.

Honestly, it is more of sadness.

Sadness for one main reason: life as I have known it, as Greer Van Dyck, will be no more.

Now, this isn’t to say that I am afraid of this fact…because I feel as though fearing an inevitability is wasted energy. But I know that the fear of death is something that many people struggle with; people close to me in life are always talking about how they are afraid of death.

It makes me wonder…are they afraid of the process of dying or the actual fact that their life, as they know it, is ending?

For me, I would only assume that it is a combination of the two; I’m sure that fear of a painful or slow death is absolutely a common source of anxiety, paired along with the fact that the time after death is completely unknown.

And then there is where it is centered…fear of the unknown. Because we don’t know exactly know how our cards are going to fall, we are afraid. I feel as though in many facets of life, we must know all details, have all of the information—but here we can’t have it, so what do we do?

We fear it. And we fear all that stands at the feet of death.

I was particularly struck by a paragraph in a great book that I’m reading on the topic—part of the reason we may fear death so much is because we see death as a complete separation from the earth. We are traveling millions of miles away when we die and being taken further and further from the things and people we love.

But consider this: instead of approaching death as a definite separation, see it as a new connection with the earth. If you think about it, we really are becoming closer to the earth—so why this sense that we are being abducted?

For suddenly, when death is seen as more of a connection than a separation from familiarity and comfort, I am less afraid and less sad. It isn’t a day that I fear now but one that I am more perplexed by and fascinated with.

Death, like everyday we spend on this earth, is unknown; you have no idea where the rise and fall of the sun is going to lead you, who you are going meet along the way and what you are going to learn.

Yet, we don’t fear the day…why?

See death as a dawning of a new day, not the end of one.

Greer Van Dyck, M.A. appreciates the quiet of the early morning hours. Proudly representing herself as a “realistic optimist,” she thrives on challenging herself in the workplace and on the playing field.  She works for a startup company called TherapySites, who specializes in providing web based solutions for mental health care practitioners and gets geeked out over riding her single speed mountain bike. The work keeps her stimulated and always tests her creative edge and business savvy. She references the words of Kahlil Gibran often and appreciates the wisdom of his words. One of her favorite quotes “Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.” Game on. Providing therapeutic services in and around Boulder, CO. Please feel free to call at 706-714-6500 or email at [email protected].

~

Editor: Bryonie Wise

Like elephant enlightened society on Facebook.