Are you looking for the most effective way to improve every part of your life? It can be summed up in one word. Its something we all do at least once, and those who do it often we make into gods. A powerful word that our society has a deep aversion to. It strikes fear in the hearts of many, and we all go to great lengths to avoid it. Yet it holds the key to enriching your life in every way. It can help make you more happy and healthy and reduce stress, anxiety and depression. Can you guess what this word is?
The dirty word that is the key to your life is: Death
How can death be the key to your life? The obvious is that in this world of opposites, one needs to embrace both sides of every coin so to speak to achieve true peace and balance. Just as we need both the light of day and the dark of night to live healthy, happy lives, we also need to embrace our fear of death. We live in a death averse society and this aversion ends up creating many problems.
But there is an even deeper theme here. Every great teacher from Jesus to the Buddha has taught this same truth –you need to die in order to be reborn. This does not mean to literally kill your physical self. But it does mean to in a sense ‘kill’ your self – otherwise known as your ego.
By weakening the power of your ego over you, you will free yourself from the emotional tantrums and pain it constantly inflicts upon you. Face it – most of us are totally possessed by our ego’s. And this is the source of all our pain.
While we may never escape fully its power, regular work on this can help us to live happier, healthier lives. So how do we work on this? By practicing death of course! Now how can someone living, practice death? Think about it for a moment.
Death is characterized by a motionless body. So how can we approach this? By doing nothing. We only need to do one thing of course to keep ourself alive – and that is breath. So we consciously force ourself to sit and breathe. It sounds so simple, but as you may discover – its incredibly difficult. Your mind (ego) will scream at you and convince you to do something, anything, except try to weaken its power over you. And most of us give in. Hence the world is the way it is. This is what is meant by the saying “The world is the way it is, because you are the way you are…”
The science behind the benefits of meditation is powerful – in fact it is the number one way to reduce all mental and physical risk factors in disease. For example, one study showed people reduced their risk of heart disease and stroke, and death from these, by almost 50% when they practiced meditation. Trust me – the deeper you search, the more the science and the wisdom of the great teachers align in perfect synchronicity.
If you want to be born again to a life of true freedom, of timeless joy and happiness – you must first die to your ‘self’. Start the process and make daily meditation part of your life. It will change everything!