An uncomfortable conversation.

At my work, I have uncomfortable conversations with clients on pretty much a daily basis. I talk with them about life insurance.

My job isn't all glum, though! I do enjoy talking with people and getting to know them. It's nice to know I can provide them protection and help them feel better about the future.

It's just that the life insurance conversation is a very sensitive one. Most of us don't want to think about the possibility of passing away or how it might affect our family. Still...it's a very important conversation to have. I've grown used to it simply because I discuss it with so many people so often. I can empathize with anyone that doesn't enjoy such a conversation. The experience of the death of a loved one is always very sad.

Society today has somewhat of an obsession with death prevention. We go to great lengths to delay it. We try to learn all we can to stay as healthy as we can so that we can live as long as we can.


The thought of death strikes fear in many peoples' hearts. I think what fuels this fear is so much uncertainty regarding death. None of us really knows what happens when we die. Yes, our veins stop pumping blood, our brains cease to work, and our bodies don't function any further. But, because none of us have died and come back to tell about it, none of us really knows what happens next.


It's quite the scary thought.


As I continued reading Yoga and the Path of the Urban Mystic (one of the books required for yoga school teacher training), there was a wonderful passage that talked about death. It really brought a sense of peace to my heart about death and I thought I'd share what I found out with you.

"Death is the most natural thing there is and to fear it is no more logical than to fear sunsets. Like the sunset that is sure to follow the sunrise, death is the natural result of birth. Resisting it and clinging to life only serves to hold us back while we're here and prevents us from living life to the fullest.

For many of us, death is not an easy subject. Because of [what we were taught to believe from birth and because we] so closely identify with the body, death can be a very fearful thing. The practice of yoga is based on the idea that we are not [really of these thoughts,] but rather the eternal Atman, or divine spark. Once [our spark] is realized, there is no cause to fear death or to speak about it in whispers.

As I have noted so many times [in this book], the essence of who we are (our divine spark) is eternal. [It is] the soul; it was not created at birth and does not die at death. Only the form a soul takes can change. If we resist that change, we suffer, and there is no change bigger than physical death.


None of us knows when we'll be called home. None of us knows when the accident is going to hit, or when disease is going to render the body uninhabitable. Therefore, it's important to attempt to make every moment a conscious one. In doing this we simultaneously create full and rich lives and make a clear space for entering into [death]."


I found these words very beautiful. It only makes sense that we might fear death because we only feel that we are of our bodies. But, what if we are so much more than just our physical selves? Whatever that is, that is what lives on, even after we pass away. It's just moving to its next stage. And, who knows what endless possibilities are in store for us there!


May you live your life to the fullest!


Sarah