Wednesday, September 9, 2009

One Dead Day - The End of One Life, the Beginning of Another

Imagine waking up one morning, on any given day, and realising you’re now merely spirit—you have no physical body left at your personal disposal; that is, you somehow died during your sleep. Everything feels quite normal but somehow everything has changed. You wake up to the thought that, despite your new state, today is the busiest of days (or would have been)—in fact, you’ve long not looked forward to it, but now you shriek at the thought of not being available. ‘How will they survive without me?!’ you think.

Everyone in your world notices you’re missing, of course, and they’re asking, ‘Where is [your name]?’ It inconveniences some. Others are plain upset. Others, yet again, are not fazed in the slightest that you’re not there. The plain truth is life goes on. And it will.

But, wait, there’s more, a whole lot more. You might get up, in this new ‘spiritual state’ and take a helicopter view of your life as it currently is. It seems your death, bizarrely, is only for one day. The fact you’re dead for one day gets you thinking. You’ve got 24 hours breathing space. ‘Why is it like this?’ you might think. Is there a purpose to it… and, yes, there is, possibly.

“You might’s”:

  • You might re-assess what your life’s been about. You might assess what your life is currently about. That might provide clues as to why you, of all people, gets to experience death for one day.
  • You might become surprised to learn some things about yourself; perhaps some things that you’ve rejected or put to one side… maybe some things you’re currently in denial about. Perhaps the helicopter view gives you some special insights as to how the rest of the world, or particular individuals, view(s) you. Perhaps you’re startled by what you see or are shown.
  • You might also be liberated by some things. There’s relief. You see some of the rightness of your decisions and actions. It relieves some of the ill founded guilt you’ve been feeling.
  • You might have resolved, on your new found viewpoint, to change some things. You choose to stop some things. Some things you hadn’t thought of you choose to start doing. Some things you might increase and some you might decrease. Your sense of values and priorities may be somehow re-shaped and hence re-aligned.
  • You might at last have sufficient motivation and resolve to make the needed changes in your life stick.
  • You might finally live from the aspect of eternity—which is truly the only aspect of worth and relevance in this life. You might’ve searched for the meaning to life yet always seemed to have missed it, until now.

If you resonate with this so far... consider something.

You can experience one dead day. Go on, I challenge you; bow out to life on your busiest possible day. Do it only once. Go A.W.O.L. See what happens. There are safe ways of doing this. You never know, it might be just the impetus you need to re-discover that thing in you—that purpose for living or whatever else—that has of itself gone A.W.O.L.

Have that day of reflection-from-the-perspective-of-death now before you die. Have the remorse and regret now while you have the chance to make it right before you die.

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