As adults, we deny our feelings about our death as we did as children. But if we seek to be "alive" rather than "happy", by feeling all our feelings, we find we can not only stand death-pain but transform it into love for life.
1. Challenging Defenses
Against Pain
True aliveness requires challenging our childhood defenses against feeling pain about our eventual death.
Against PainTrue aliveness requires challenging our childhood defenses against feeling pain about our eventual death.
2. Increased Energy:
When Denial Kills
Facing death can release vast stores of energy previously used to repress our death-pain..
When Denial KillsFacing death can release vast stores of energy previously used to repress our death-pain..
3. Heightened Feeling
We cannot repress our pain without reducing our joy. Facing death can create a new life of rich and intense feeling.
We cannot repress our pain without reducing our joy. Facing death can create a new life of rich and intense feeling.
4. Deeper Relationships
and Sexuality
Life-affirming death awareness brings a new poignancy to our relationships, deepening and transforming them.
and SexualityLife-affirming death awareness brings a new poignancy to our relationships, deepening and transforming them.
5. More Compassionate
Child-rearing
Life-affirming death awareness leads to more compassionate parenting, by reducin gour unconscious desire to live on through our children.
Child-rearing
Life-affirming death awareness leads to more compassionate parenting, by reducin gour unconscious desire to live on through our children.
6. Creativity and Wisdom
Facing our mortality challenges conventional thinking- spurring creativity and developing wisdom.
Facing our mortality challenges conventional thinking- spurring creativity and developing wisdom.