How Dying Can Change Your Life

By Gavin Whyte

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

Okay, I know the title is a little odd but hear me out, because what I have to say about dying only makes living all the more incredible.

We have been conditioned not to think about death and dying. If we do think about it and voice our thoughts then people, our family and close friends especially, might get a little worried, fearing for our mental health.

But what if — and this is where we make the grim reaper look like prince charming — what if by understanding death and how it’s connected to life, we learn how to live in peace, joy, wonder and love? Have you ever wondered whether all those things we’re seeking might be hiding in the very place we fear the most?

I’ve been fascinated with death and dying since I was around six years old. I can remember going to the school library, and while all my classmates went to get their comics and books based on their favourite cartoons, I settled down in the non-fiction area where I happily flicked through the pages of books on ghost sightings, poltergeists and angels.

My Great-Grandma died around that time, so maybe it was because of her passing that I began to be curious about such things. Six years later, my Grandad died. Now that definitely had an impact on me because he was like a best friend. I just couldn’t fathom how one minute he was here and then the next he was gone. I remember asking my mum why he had to die and she said, “It was just his time”, but that left me asking even bigger questions about the nature of existence.

I’m now 32 and it is evident that death and dying have shaped the last 20 years of my life, and I’m certain will continue to do so. My own personal philosophy uses it as a foundation and anything that I write, you can guarantee, will be inspired by it.

I long to change the way we perceive death and dying, for I believe that it holds a vital key for us to live in peace.

We have cloaked death with a grim satire for too long. We have attached so many negative connotations to a natural process that we now fear it and avoid it at all costs. Imagine a leaf spending all of spring and summer fearing autumn, only for winter to come and the leaf sees that, not only is it in safe hands, but that it missed nature’s beautiful dance because of fear.

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Related reading: 

• Conscious Death, Sacred Service and Green Burial – Leaving a Legacy of Meaning and Conservation

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