Ep. 217 Living a Death-Aware Life: How to Practice What We Preach

Learn why and how to intentionally develop your personal death-awareness in order to live your best life.

If you are a death-worker in any field you probably feel that you are highly aware of death and its many facets. But did you know that the human brain has a primal mechanism to protect us from thinking about and acknowledging our own personal death? Yes it’s true. We can be advanced teachers of death for other people and still be in denial that we ourselves are going to die. In this solo episode I’ll talk about how and why we need to strengthen our own death-awareness for the betterment of our lives and our work.
Listen here:
https://lessonsfromdying.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/podcasteolu19deathaware.mp3  
This episode includes:
A study that shows the defenses against death-awareness that exist in the primitive human brain
Why personal death-awareness must be intentionally cultivated
How death-awareness can expand and transform our lives
Why daily death contemplation is essential to our growth Think about the fleeting nature of life
Acknowledge fears of death and dying
Recognize barriers to awareness

Benefits of increased death-awareness: Enjoy the present moment
Find comfort in stillness
Experience authentic gratitude for life
Experience awe
Become less attached to material things
Be more inclusive and less exclusive
See everything as sacred

Good night Wesley. Good work. Sleep well. I shall likely kill you in the morning.
-from The Princess Bride
Links mentioned in this episode:

FREE webinar (REPLAY provided if you can’t attend live):
The Loneliness Epidemic
Click here to register.
Article: Doubting Death: How our brains shield us from mortal truth
Film: The Princess Bride
Beautiful Dying Expo – November 2, 2019, San Diego CA
Before I Die Arizona – October 30 – November 3, Scottsdale AZ
Spiritual Journeys in Chronic Illness Course
Join the team at Patreon.com/eolu and get access to the EOLU mug: “Mind if we talk about death?” (only Patrons can purchase it)
If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes! Thanks again to all supporters on Patreon.com/eolu, especially my newest Patrons Kathryn Mattes, Kristy Lynn, and Astrid Raffinpeyloz, your contributions mean everything to me!