What If Today Was the Last Day of Your Life?

[00:00:00] What if today was the last day of your life? [00:00:07] I know. [00:00:09] Our society doesn't like talking about death. [00:00:14] We're obsessed with avoiding the topic. [00:00:18] People do absolutely everything they possibly can never to think about death in most cases. [00:00:24] And as a result, we've created a prison where we are trying to control the uncontrollable. [00:00:34] We're trying to create insurance, we're trying to create ownership over things we can't own indefinitely. [00:00:42] We're trying to distract ourselves from our own mortality. [00:00:47] We live in a world that is absolutely terrified of the subject of death. [00:00:52] And as a result, we live in this deluded fantasy that everything's going to carry on, carry on, carry on, carry on, carry on. We've got all the time in the world when in fact we have no idea when we are going to die. [00:01:12] And as I shared with the story with Nick, he sent me a long message. He was very excited about a whole bunch of stuff. He was going through some processes of his own and he wanted to do projects and he was thinking about his life with his new partner and the next three years and all these things. And then he died in the evening, unexpectedly. I was shocked. He was shocked. Everyone was shocked, right? [00:01:36] We don't know when we're going to die. And when Nick died, I made a promise to myself that I am going to contemplate my own death every day. [00:01:48] Maybe for 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 5 minutes, even 1 minute, even a few seconds. Because it's only in contemplating our death that we can truly feel alive. [00:02:05] I'll give an example. I often go on trips, so when I'm leaving my house, I'm living in Sedona at this point. [00:02:13] And the day before I leave, I start looking around my house and the place I live and the mountains and the sun, the red rocks. And I start really appreciating it. I'm like, oh my God, this is such a beautiful place. I love my life, I love my house. I don't want to leave. This is so beautiful. [00:02:34] Wish I could stay. [00:02:36] And I start enjoying everything. I'm like, wow, I'm not going to see this. I'm not going to see this. This is so cool. Everything that I was for granted, all the little things, all my little comforts, my hot tub, my teas, the stupor where I meditate. The mountains, the people I know around here, the friends of mine, all, all the things. There's thousands of little things that I enjoy every day that I don't normally even notice because it's become normalized. But as I'm about to leave. [00:03:08] I start appreciating it so more and more. And as I get in the shuttle and it pulls out towards the airport and I'm driving down the road, I'm looking at the mountains and I'm seeing all these things and I think, what an amazing place that I live in. [00:03:21] All of a sudden, my gratitude for life increases tenfold. 20 fold, 100 fold. It's almost like the joy of living is there in its full abundance, just because I'm about to leave. [00:03:38] And so when we imagine dying, when we imagine leaving the whole world, when we imagine having nothing, then we finally can see what we have. [00:03:53] But if we never think about death, if we never think about leaving behind all the beautiful opportunities we have, then we just become depressed, entitled. [00:04:14] It's not good enough. I want more. It's not the way I like it. It should be different. It's not as good as this other person, but I'm not as successful. They have better car, better house, better stuff, more money, they look better. [00:04:33] So I want to do an exercise with you right now to contemplate your death. [00:04:41] And if you're squeamish about this, then this might be an opportunity to deal with it imperfectly, with compassion. Because we are going to die. Do you agree or do you think somehow it's not going to happen to you, happens to everyone else, but not going to happen to me. Here's the thing, on a deeper level, because we're spiritual beings, we can never experience our own death because we actually never die. We are consciousness in the body. [00:05:10] And so when the body stops working, consciousness leaves, but we don't actually experience death. We just experience moving out of the body. [00:05:23] And another thing you can do, by the way, is watch videos or read articles on near death experiences. There are millions of people who've had near death experiences who've left their body and then come back to tell the tale. [00:05:41] And they all say that they didn't actually experience death because they're obviously something different from their body. And then they come back into it with a refreshed gratitude and they realize in most cases that the only thing that matters is love. [00:05:59] And so we don't actually need to have a near death experience. We don't need to have a car accident and be rushed to the hospital and then pronounced dead. [00:06:11] There are some people who even were put in a body bag and they were about to be cremated and then somehow they came back. I mean, there's all kinds of crazy stories, crazy. We don't have to get to that point if we do this. Practice now. [00:06:27] So I want you to imagine if you're ready and even if you're not. Let's just take a. Take a breath and allow yourself to just experience this. Because you're safe, you're secure. [00:06:38] There's no end, because you are eternal late. [00:06:49] Now, when you're ready, take a nice deep breath. [00:06:55] And another. [00:07:00] And imagine that today was the last day of your life and you are about to leave. [00:07:16] But you will leave your body and the body will be cremated tomorrow. [00:07:32] And so in 24 hours, you're gonna lose your body and all your stuff. [00:07:40] All the opportunity to serve people, to create things. [00:07:51] All the opportunity to experience the different things in your life. All the relationships. You're not really going to lose them permanently, but you're not going to be able to connect with the people in your life. [00:08:04] People you know physically, the people online, people you listen to. All of that is finished in one day. [00:08:16] Or your favorite food, favorite clothes, favorite drinks, favorite pastimes. [00:08:31] I invite you to imagine leaving your body now that this is your final moment. And you leave your body and you leave everything behind. And you go into a place of infinite light where there is nothing but silence and peace, like an ocean of light. [00:08:54] You're safe, you're held. [00:09:01] And the whole world and your old life is far in the distance. [00:09:07] The body has been taken and cremated. People are grieving. [00:09:16] All your stuff is now in the hands of others. [00:09:23] All the chances you had to do, the things you wanted to do, are finished. [00:09:30] You're like on the other side of a giant dome. [00:09:39] On one side is the opportunity to be alive, to practice, to experience, to do things. And you're on the other side. And there is this wall, this glass wall. You can't go back. You've lost it all. You can see it. [00:09:54] You can't go into it. [00:09:56] You're just in this beautiful light. [00:10:00] Just yourself. [00:10:02] Just your. [00:10:22] And you're okay. You're an eternal being of peace. And in some ways, it's a relief. You don't have to worry about anything. You don't have to do anything. You don't have to pay any bills. [00:10:36] You're surrounded in light and love. [00:10:42] There's nothing to think, nothing to do, nothing to learn. [00:10:48] You're just being. [00:11:08] You are zero. [00:11:11] Zero. You have nothing except yourself. [00:11:30] And just notice what you miss, if anything. [00:11:36] What have you lost as you look through that dome? [00:12:01] The world carries on without you. [00:12:10] You're on the other side of a screen and you can't get in. [00:12:16] But you can still see it in the distance. [00:12:34] You can't tell anyone that you love them. [00:12:38] You can't experience the sun rise, the sunset. [00:12:48] You can't hold a warm cup of tea on a cold day. [00:12:54] You can't share your gifts, your song. [00:13:12] You can't look at someone in their eyes and see them smile. [00:14:01] What do you miss from your old life that is now far away? [00:14:08] Sam. [00:14:35] And now the magic moment happens where you can be invited back into the world again. [00:14:54] There is a window opened up in the dome, and if you want, you can come back into your body. You get your body back, it's going to be brought back. [00:15:06] You go back in time before it was cremated. [00:15:15] And if you're ready, you can come back into your body. [00:15:21] You can take a deep breath. [00:15:25] You've come back to life. And gently and gradually allow each thing in your life to come back to you. You notice your senses, you can feel. [00:15:39] Just notice your fingers and toes. [00:15:42] Notice your breath. [00:15:57] Notice the colors. Open your eyes. Look at the colors. [00:16:01] Colors, shapes, things. Look at all the things you have around you. [00:16:07] Look at the sky if you're outside, or you can see outside. Look at the nature. Just look at what you're seeing. All these options. And there's a whole world with so many different things that you can experience. [00:16:18] You can travel. [00:16:23] There's all the people you can connect with, people that you love, people you haven't met yet, who could be your best friends, your family. [00:16:34] There's things to experience, places to go. There's things to create. [00:16:41] There's food to eat. [00:16:44] You can enjoy, the sunshine on your face. [00:16:49] What are you excited about? Look around. Imagine you get it all back. [00:16:52] And it's just for today. [00:16:54] You get it all back. Just for one day. [00:16:58] And that's it. One day at a time. [00:17:02] You get it all back. [00:17:05] What are you gonna do? [00:17:06] What are you grateful for? [00:17:11] What are you excited about? [00:17:14] What would you want to change and give up? What do you want to release? [00:17:20] Is being a perfectionist really worth it? If you have one day to live and you've just got it back, Just for today. [00:17:45] Ah. How do you feel? Are you feeling all right? [00:17:52] This practice will change your life. [00:17:58] I'm personally committed to practicing some version of this every day. [00:18:03] To leave it all behind, to realize that I could leave it all behind today. I don't know. [00:18:10] To realize that I'm safe outside of this so I don't have to worry about death. [00:18:15] To realize I'm going to lose everything, all the opportunities I have to notice what it's like to be on the other side of that screen of that dome where you're looking in from the outside. [00:18:31] We've lost everything. [00:18:38] And then to have the great joy of coming back for one day, just for one day to experience it all again. [00:18:46] What would you say? What would you do? What wouldn't you do? We live one day at a time. We don't know how long we have. We can incarnate like an avatar. An avatar incarnates comes down into the world with a special task. And when you have this attitude, you have the consciousness. I am an avatar. I have come down onto this planet to perform an auspicious task, to enjoy being alive. To do something meaningful with this precious moment, with the precious seconds. [00:19:26] Not years and months, decades, but seconds, minutes. [00:19:35] So if you have your five year goal and you live one day at a time, then you enjoy everything and you do the most important things and you love it. You can enjoy. You don't have to be a perfectionist, you. The more we practice dying and coming back, the more the perfectionism seems completely ridiculous. [00:20:03] Completely ridiculous. It doesn't make any sense. Perfectionism and all these limiting beliefs live on within us. Because of this idea, we're never going to die. And when we realize the truth that this could be our last day, and even if it isn't, we have a very short time on this planet. [00:20:27] With that awareness, perfectionism begins to disappear. [00:20:35] And we allow ourselves just to be alive, just to enjoy, just to be here today from our hearts. [00:20:49] So my invitation to you, my dear friend, is to allow yourself to experience this every day so that you can really feel the blessing of life and enjoy all the opportunities that life has for you. [00:21:19] Ah, yes. [00:21:21] Thank you for being here. [00:21:23] Feel free to listen to this again and again and again, maybe every day or whenever you want, so that you can enjoy the precious seconds and moments you have and really what matters most. [00:21:40] Thank you for being here and talk to you in the next adventure.