“For life's sake, don't die with a freezer full of bananas. Make the banana bread. Scream into the pillow. Take a nap. Eat the cake. Forgive yourself. Buy the shoes. Apologize to the people you've hurt. Watch the birds make a nest. Tell your truth. Tell the ones you love that you love them. Fuck. A lot. And make love. Quit the job. Or take the job. Whatever it is that you know you must do to reconcile your life with your death. Do it. Do it today.” DeathDying Book:Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End Source: Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End
“Dying is the most intimate act we will undertake. It requires us to be intimate with ourselves, our bodies, our lives, and with the present moment - to reveal the parts we believe are difficult to love, the face beneath the mask we wear for the outside world, and the squishy parts that bear wounds and form scars. Everything else is a show. To be helped is to die a small death of the ego. To allow love in is an invitation to allow our messy human glory to take front stage, and let love pour into those places that have been beaten down by the ego and the outside world.” DeathDying Book:Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End Source: Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End
“No wonder death makes us so uncomfortable. We can't gather much informaiton about it, and gathering information is what makes us feel safe. Thinking about death drives us directly into the discomfort of "I don't know." In my work supporting people through dying, I meet many who cling to what they think they can control, to avoid surrendering to life's biggest "I Don't know.” DeathDying Book:Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End Source: Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End
“We can spend our lives fretting about our deaths, or we can use our brief time to sink deeper into the experience of being human, for all it entails. The good, the tricky the impermanent. We can acknowledge that our death will one day come and use that knowledge to create a life so whole, so honest, so juicy, that it is worth leaving.” DeathDying Book:Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End Source: Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End
“I have seen over and over human beings' personal reckonings in the final moments of life. It begs the question: What must I do to be at peace with myself so that I may live presently and die gracefully.” DeathDying Book:Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End Source: Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End
“Societally, we have internalized some of depression's lies - that sadness is wrong, that it is bad, that it is not valuable. That it needs to be made "better." We celebrate wellness and leave no space for sorrow, brokenness, grief, or anything other than "I'm fine" when the truth is that life is complicated, painful, and difficult. Whole humans feel a whole range of emotions, but we applaud only half of them, driving our negatively perceived emotions deep into hiding for fear of judgment. There, they are safe to fester and grow stronger, which in turn drives us to hid them more.” GriefDepression Quotes Book:Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End Source: Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End
“At every step in our path, some possibilities die behind us while others bloom before us, and in every transition, even the joyful ones, there is grief.” GriefTransition Book:Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End Source: Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End
“All we know is that everything ends. Our collective death denial inspires us to behave like we can live forever. But we don't have forever to create the life we want.” Death Dying Book:Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End Source: Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End
“That is what I wish for all of us: a life that feels like the miracles it is and a death that serves as a period on a satisfying sentence. Because we live, we get to die. That is a gift.” Death Dying Book:Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End Source: Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End
“When we think we know, we are not pliable. We are stagnant and stuck. Opening ourselves up to the discomfort of not knowing means opening ourselves up to the magic of what may be--the place of pure boundless potential where anything is possible.” DeathLife LessonsTimeControlUnknownFate And Life Author:Alua Arthur