Subject: Lifescope TIPs & QUIPs [19] "A Year to Live"

Are you prepared to die?  I'm not talking about having your will in order
or getting closure on fractured relationships, although those can be
important. What I'm referring to, is how are you going to BE as you die?
Will you go kicking and screaming, crying "Wait, I'm not ready to die!"
Or will you reflect on a life well-lived and well-loved, and share some
wisdom and comfort as you bid farewell to those around you? And will that
come naturally, or might you do well with a little rehearsal?

One of the more powerful exercises of which I'm aware is "Dead for a Day." 
This is where you 'unplug' from everything you 'have' to do for a day, 
and imagine that you've already 'crossed the line' -- that you have died 
and you are now wandering about this earth as a ghost or angel, seeing 
what it will be like after you've gone. If you can find the courage to 
try this, I guarantee you'll 'come back' with a slightly different 
perspective on just about everything. 

A similar exercise, is pretending that you have 24 hours left to live. 
This week's excerpt is from a book by someone who's done this, but on a 
scale of a whole YEAR. In discussions I've had with friends, we all agree
that this approach makes more sense than living each day as if it were 
your last -- which has the right spirit but is short on practicality. 
As the author notes, taking the time to prepare for death yields many
positive, permanent changes which make the life you have more rewarding.

To Life! (as impermanent as it is...)   -- Lee Lukehart

TIPs & QUIPs, the free occasional email of helpful hints and quotes (and
sometimes challenging suggestions) for getting the most from life.

In this issue:
     *** WiseWords
     *** This Issue's Theme
     *** Suggested Resources
     *** Thrive On! Recommended Site


*** WiseWords ***                                     [TOP]
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"For Life, as in any other lottery, 'You must be present to win.'" 
  --Jack Kornfeld
   
"Remember, friends, as you pass by, 
 As you are now so once was I.  
 As I am now, so you must be; 
 Prepare yourself to follow me."
  --common 18th-century epitaph
  
"Most people would rather die than think. Many do." 
  --Bertrand Russell
  
"Do not seek death. Death will find you. 
 But seek the road which makes death a fulfillment." 
  --Dag Hammarskjöld

(For a collection of some of our favorite WiseWords, see our web page at
<http://www.lifescope.com/pages/WiseWords.html>.)


*** This issue's theme: A YEAR TO LIVE                           [TOP]
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(excerpted from "A Year to Live" by Stephen Levine)

As I have accompanied the dying to the threshold over the last twenty years,
it has become painfully clear how often death takes people unawares. Even
those who had months or even years of illness to prepare themselves often
lamented how completely unprepared they were for their death.

In their last year many people feel as if they have a second chance at
growth and inner healing. Many speak of catching up with their lives just
"in the nick of time." Having observed the renewal that occurs for so many
people because they have been given a terminal diagnosis or because their
natural wisdom inspires them to open more profoundly to life, I offer an
experiment that amplifies your potential for healing by living the next year
as if it were your last.

On their deathbed some people look back on their lives and are overwhelmed
by a sense of failure. They have a closet full of regrets. They become
disheartened when they reflect on how they have overlooked the preciousness
of their relationships, forgotten the importance of finding their "true
work," and delayed what some call "living my own life." Because they had
left so many parts of their life for "later," they felt fragmented about
unsatisfying work, unfinished business in relationships, and compromised
lifestyles. But "later" came much sooner than they expected, and they found
themselves burdened by unfulfilled dreams and a sense of incompleteness.

Many people, although they have few other complaints, experience a certain
remorse about having neglected spiritual growth, while even more express
dismay that there has been so little authentic joy in their lives. All but
those who have fully opened to life say that they would live differently if
they had just one more year.

We don't have to die feeling like a failure, full of shame and fear, unable
to navigate by the clear light of our true heart. Indeed, that is what this
book has to offer: a year to live as consciously as possible, a year to
finish business, to catch up with our lives, to investigate and deal with
our fear of death, to cultivate our true heart and find our essential wisdom
and joy. A year to live as if that is all that remains.

There is a Native American saying, "Today is a good day to die for all the
things of my life are present." This embodies the possibilities of a life
reviewed and completed. A life in which even death is not excluded. I am
speaking here of a whole death that succeeds a whole life. A life caught up
to, and lived in, the present, that rides the breath and knows the power of
thought to create the world, experiencing itself in its fullness and
emptiness.

The more mindful we are the less there is to crowd us in our deathbed. When
we are living our life instead of only thinking it, nothing remains undone,
and if we should die that day we are pleased that our death can be so
complete. When everything is brought up-to-date, and the heart is turned
toward itself, it is a good day to die.

--from "A Year to Live" by Stephen Levine
[Excerpt authorized as Fair Use under Copyright Act of 1976, Section 107]


*** Suggested Resources ***                                       [TOP]
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A YEAR TO LIVE 
In his new book, Stephen Levine teaches us how to live each moment, each
hour, each day mindfully -- as if it were all that was left. On his deathbed,
Socrates exhorted his followers to practice dying as the highest form of
wisdom. Levine decided to live this way himself for a whole year, and now he
shares with us how such immediacy radically changes our view of the world
and forces us to examine our priorities. Levine provides us with a year-long
program of intensely practical strategies and powerful guided meditations to
help with this work, so that whenever the ultimate moment does arrive for
each of us, we will not feel that it has come too soon.

(softcover book, 192pp) Item# H5314-BK
   SRP$10.00 -- Your Price (see link below for special price)
Buy this item now from Lifescope's secure online store.
You can also buy this title directly from Amazon.com.

(2 audiotapes) Item# H5314-AT
   SRP$18.95 -- Your Price (see link below for special price)
Buy this item now from Lifescope's secure online store.
You can also buy this title directly from Amazon.com.

*** To order RISK-FREE: visit our secure online store, and place an order 
*** with your credit card, or call 800-WIN-LIFE (800-946-5433, 24 hrs).
*** Your satisfaction is absolutely assured with our RISK-FREE Guarantee!


*** Thrive On! Recommended Site ***                              [TOP]
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Self Assessment Of Your Beliefs about Death and Dying  
<http://dying.miningco.com/blasses.htm>
This self-assessment does not give you any cute nicknames or tell you how
well adjusted you are.  What it does is give you insight into your attitude
about death.  After answering every two questions, click on  "What does your
answer to these two questions say" to assess your response to that question.
This assessment is one of many death and dying resources listed on the 
Mining Co. site.


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