This weekend was filled with much news of birth and death. I received joyous news of beautiful angelic children being brought into the world. I also received news regarding the passing of elders. I began to contemplate what birth and death really are and how the individual life experiences the two in different ways. Have you ever looked at it this way before?
Birth and death are experienced by people in many different ways. Happy and sad emotions can exist in both scenarios. Emotions stem from looking at the past and what has been lost or gained, looking at the future and what may or may not be experienced, the attachment to ones we love, and the reality of one’s own mortality.
When I think of birth, it brings to mind new beginnings, awakening from a different existence, and opening oneself to a new experience. As babies, we come in open and loving. We are sponges, taking in any and everything as stimuli from which to grow, change, and establish our patterns and behaviors. Birth is our entrance into a new way of living. We came from a dark, enclosed, warm place to one that is light and expansive, varied in climate and condition.
There is a sense of innocence and unconditional acceptance of what appears in front of us, until we come to know otherwise. As a child grows, they very soon discover that there is something such as death…an ominous occurrence that can threaten to take away loved pets, grandparents, or other loved ones. We begin to have a subconscious fear of death because of the pain that comes from having to say goodbye. In doing so, walls begin to form and emotions are held with tighter reins in an attempt to protect the heart and mind.
I have never had to experience the death of a close family member because my parents came from India in the late 60’s and we did not have anyone else. We were a total of six in the family. The very few relatives we had were distant ones in physicality and in lineage. The first encounter with death was a friend of mine in the 5th grade. As a child, having never encountered death, I did not know how to respond. I was definitely sad and saw many people crying and so I thought that was what I was supposed to do.
Now that I am older, I view death very differently. There are two different versions of death in my mind. The first version of death invovles the passing of an individual from their physical status in this lifetime to another form, based on what one’s beliefs on the matter are. I choose to experience tears when they need to come. But on the whole, I choose to celebrate the life of the individual and the gift they were in mine, rather than mourning their passing. In my mind, people may leave us physically, but they truely never leave us emotionally or spiritually.
The second perspective on death is very close to my heart because it is so prevalent and completely ignored…The Walking Dead. I am not talking about a horror flick, anything occult or scary…I am speaking of the many people that abound the planet, living life from a place of emptiness.
There are parts within each one of us that have died away simply because we have chosen to be practical, not feel, or ignore the heart’s true needs. What part of you is the walking dead?
Have you killed off your creative side, not allowing it to express any longer? Have you become a work-a-holic… allowing joy, community, and true laughter to be something for others? Have you built walls around your heart for fear of being hurt or abandoned? What part of you are the walking dead?
If you look back on who you used to be, what has changed? Are you still as happy, hopeful, excited, positive, and eager? Or have you let the obligations, responsibilities, and pressures of life mold you into a person that is just trying to get to the next day, striking things off an unending to-do list, give-give-giving of yourself to the point there is none left for you, living so unconsciously that spans of your day go by and you do not even know where they went or how the things got done that did?
Are you tired all of the time? Have you come to hate your job but think you have to be there, because “what would people think?” Has your relationship with your partner, your parents, or your children become an endless nod or “Yes Dear”? Do you feel as if you have lost part of yourself? Do you view the person you used to be as a distant past, another lifetime…a completely different person?
If any of these questions pertain to you, in small or large part…then part of you has already died. The wonderful thing is that you can revive yourself. You can birth a new existence. You can change your life. You can have the things you want. You can create the life you used to have , a greater one, or a completely different one.
New birth comes from powerful choices and powerful conversations. New birth is living in the integrity of yourself. It is saying what you will do and doing what you will say. New birth is being responsible, taking ownership, and taking charge of your own life. It is time to choose life! CHOOSE LIFE!!!
All it takes is a willing heart, an open mind, and a new choice. You just have to…
BELIEVE…Beyond the Illusions!!!
Warmest regards,
Simran Singh �