Hi,
My name is Amber,
And welcome to today's meditation for the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos,
Or Day of the Dead.
Today I have a contemplation practice for you in two parts.
First,
I'll walk you through imagining your own death in a worst-case scenario,
And then after that,
I'll ask you to contemplate your own death in a best-case scenario.
I invite you to be completely present to and observe the feelings,
Thoughts,
And reactions that come up for you throughout the practice.
Before we get started,
I want to mention that meditating on death is not for everyone.
If you are experiencing severe mental illness,
Suicidal ideation,
Or processing a severe trauma,
Please take a moment to decide if this meditation is right for you today.
If not,
No worries,
We love you,
Please take good care of yourself.
I'll leave some supportive resources below in the description.
Alright,
Let's get started.
Come to a comfortable seated position,
Or perhaps lying on your back in corpse pose with your eyes closed.
Start to deepen the breath,
Coming into the body.
Feel into the weight of the head,
The feeling of the shoulders,
The arms,
The torso,
The hips,
The seat,
The legs,
And the feet.
Let's begin with the first part of the contemplation practice.
I invite you to imagine your own inevitable death in however you define a worst-case scenario.
Perhaps in this scenario,
You died due to an accident or due to a tragedy.
Perhaps you died too young and too soon.
And I want to read a quote to you by Les Brown.
Imagine,
If you will,
Being on your deathbed and standing around your bed,
The ghosts of the ideas,
The dreams,
The abilities,
The talents given to you by life.
Imagine that you,
For whatever reason,
You never acted on those ideas.
You never pursued that dream.
You never used those talents.
We never saw your leadership.
You never used your voice,
And you never wrote that book.
And there they are,
Standing around your bed,
Looking at you with large angry eyes,
Saying,
We came to you,
And only you could have given us life.
Now we must die with you forever.
The question is,
If you die today,
What ideas,
What dreams,
What abilities,
What talents,
What gifts would die with you?
And as you imagine,
In this worst-case scenario,
Be attentive to what feelings and thoughts are arising.
You.
You.
You.
You.
You.
Perhaps this death is one many years from now from natural causes.
Maybe you're surrounded by your loved ones,
Your family,
And your friends.
It's peaceful and painless,
Like falling asleep.
In this death,
You're proud of the life that you lived.
You lived your life as your true self,
And you're proud to say that you left the world better than you found it.
Again,
As you imagine,
Notice what feelings and thoughts come up.
You.
You.
You.
You.
And now that you've died twice,
Gently come back to life.
Come back to the breath,
The lovely deep inhales and exhales.
Come back to the body with its muscle,
Bones,
Skin,
And hair.
Notice now what it feels like to be alive.
And as you move into the rest of your day,
I want to leave you with an idea.
Death is nothing to fear,
And by holding death close,
We gain a greater appreciation for life.
Thank you for meditating with me today.
I'm Ruby Dia de los Muertos,
And I'll see you again next time.
