I’m sorry, but it’s true.

And obvious.

We are all going to die.

There is no way to live forever. We will all one day stand alone, face to face with death, “shuffle off this mortal coil” and leave this beautiful world behind.

The thought makes me sad sometimes. Not a crying sadness, but a deep, gut sadness.

But other times it makes me happy. A large, soaring happiness.

If I will one day die then that is a reminder that I am alive and here, right now. That overwhelms me. I remember that this will all go. The colours of the world. The wind on my skin. The smell of fresh flowers and dewy grass. One day my body will stop working and my individual perception of this world will end.

If we can really accept our mortality. Look straight at the truth and fully acknowledge that our time is limited. If we can do that with an open heart, then this life becomes a sort of joke, with everyone arriving at the same punchline in the end, no matter which path we chose.

We can become so wrapped up in the details of being alive—the demands, the pursuits, the friction—that we can easily forget that all of this will turn to dust in the eternity following our deaths.

This isn’t meant to be grim but the opposite. Pursuits are good but if we let them overtake the brief time we are alive then we can miss the whole miracle that is life.

Let your death be a constant reminder of your life.

You are alive now. This is your time.

Make life joyous—there is no time for fear and anger.

Choose happiness.

Learn how to love and do it every chance you get.

There is so much life out there to be lived and we have been given the golden ticket of being able to live it, in whatever way we are capable.

I hope we can all find ways to make the most of it.

For me it is love that makes life so special. My life would not be very much at all without it.

And nature, I find spending my time in the natural world to be so fulfilling. I am happy to die and decompose if it means being a small part of the endless dance of nature.

And that is what death does, it offers us a reminder. This life is impermanent and will one day cease to exist.

But today we have life and it is up to us to use it to be alive.

What will you do with your today?

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Relephant read:

4 Things I’ve Learned about Death that Have Helped Me to Truly Live.

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Author & Artist: Mike Medaglia

Editor: Khara-Jade Warren

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