Embracing Death

As soon as you hear the word “DEATH”

I am sure feelings of anxiety, fear or unpleasantness would get triggered

Maybe you remember a painful memory

Maybe you remember death of your loved or close ones

Maybe you remember scenes where you attended final rituals of someone

But I bet none of us ever have anything sensible to say or talk about DEATH

In fact in our homes even if slightest mention of Death comes up

We are told not to talk negative

Anyone who ever talks about Death, we ask if he needs help

If he is depressed 

Or is the person suicidal if he is thinking about Death

And now you may think I need some medical help as I am writing about Death 

So we never really think about Death

As there is a lot of stigma that is attached to this word

Over the past few days I have spent a lot of time just thinking, exploring and reading about Death

In the Mahabharata, Yudhisthira’s most profound statement on death is that the greatest wonder is how, despite witnessing countless deaths, people still act as if they are immortal

Steve Jobs famously encouraged people to ask themselves, “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?”

Here are few sentences from Steve Jobs on death

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.

Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it, and that is how it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It’s life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new”

Why do a lot of people like to think about death while they are still alive ?

Memento mori is a Latin phrase meaning “remember you must die”

Based on all the things I consumed and then thought about

Here are my insights about Death

Everyone should LIVE their life knowing they are going to DIE

This is interesting because, maybe we have been told by movies or web series or books, that LIVE as if you are going to die

But all of us seem to have taken the wrong meaning out of it

Mostly people have used it as a way to escape life

People always fall into the Bullshit of Travel more, explore things, quit your job and other things that you might have heard of

Honestly these are not ways to LIVE life but to ESCAPE from life

I figured out that this is not what LIVING life means

It is about in whatever circumstances you are, if you were sure that you were going to DIE in the next 6 months or a year, 

Would you live your day exactly the same way

And honestly it is not the BIG things that matter

But the smaller things on every day basis

• May be talking with the person whom you always wanted to
• Or leaving that person whom you hated
• Having that round with your friend after your work hours
• saying thank You
• saying sorry
• May be forgiving the person you hated all the way

Again, it is not the external big changes

But the smaller decisions that you make on every day basis

These changes are what makes the real difference

So the next time you think about postponing smaller things in life

Know that you are going to DIE and do them right away

DEATH makes you remove all the masks 

Whatever person you are 

Or what you show to the world

You really are someone else from deep inside

Maybe you disagree to a persons opinion

But you agree to it anyway 

• Maybe you don’t like a thing about another person but you don’t make an effort to change it
• Maybe you always wanted to talk more but you never spoke because people think you are an introvert
• Maybe you were a fun guy, but never had the courage to showcase it

Realizing that you are going to DIE

Makes sure that you show your true self to the world

Irrespective of their judgements

And your own fear of those judgements

You would not be afraid to lose friends

Loose people

Loose your so called non existent RESPECT

Because nothing remains when you DIE

It feels that a burden of thousand years if lifted from your heart

You feel FREE

And a newer version of you takes over

A version that is expressing itself as it is

This will make people around you question your own identity

They would feel is that really the same person I am with

Because you say what you think 

Take stand for what you believe

And walk away from things

This is real unmasking in LIFE

Your Decisions change drastically when you consider DEATH

As soon as you know that you are going to DIE one day and accept it

Your decision making criterion changes

You start prioritizing LIVING instead of show off and doing bullshit things

We are always making decisions based on short term gains

But when we take death into picture

You always think whether this is worth it in the long term

You suddenly think you can take more risk

(again this does not mean quitting your job or taking the trip kind of Bullshit)

• But risk of expressing your love to the person whom you wanted
• Or doing things that make you happen 
• This could mean you could go and start teaching just because you love and and don’t give a fuck about the money it makes
• Or you could go and start a food stall of yours on the weekends because you would love that experience
• Maybe you could forgive someone that you hated all the way along
• Or maybe do the most stupidest activity that you always wanted to do but were afraid of the consequences

DEATH changes your decision making process

Will I regret doing this when I die or will I regret not doing this when I die will become your new compass

If you live by this framework

You will never be worried or concerned about the short term consequences of things

For an example

Lets say you are a person

Who is afraid to ask someone to go on a date

The thought of doing this creates Shame, fear, anxiety and you feel that you will get rejected because you don’t have the skills or looks

You know that the girl or guy would reject you for sure

So maybe you hold off fearing this situation

Now consider DEATH into the equation

Imagine you know you are going to DIE in six months

You would be like

who the fuck cares ? 

I can get rejected but it does not matter

As I am going to DIE

And nothing matters once you DIE

Because you would not carry the weight of not doing things

Failing is always OKAY when we consider DEATH
Not trying that thing will create regret

Read the above to sentences again and tie to your heart..

You Start to value LIFE more considering it is Limited

Once you know DEATH is there

Suddenly LIFE becomes more valuable

You start to value every moment

You don’t think anything is small

You always feel like this is the most important thing that I am doing

Or this is the most important moment I am living

Because this is going to End one day

We live LIFE thinking it is going to last forever

This makes things uninteresting and boring

But if we consider everything limited

Suddenly we value everything

The talks

The work

The phone call

The food

Every small things becomes important

All of us realize smaller things are which that holds the key

Not that one BIG moment all of us are after

DEATH forces you to ask bigger questions

Once death becomes your end destination and you accept it

You start to question the sanity of things

Why are you doing whatever you are doing ?

What is LIFE ?

Who am I ?

Why am I here ?

All of us think these are the questions only people ask in movies

Or some spiritual people spend their life on

But if you really accept that destination

You would be sure to ask yourself these questions

Because it is natural to ask these questions

Once you know the entire game

The question is why are you even playing this game

And if that game has flexible rules

Then do you really want to play with the rules that you currently have ?

This segment will be a little complex for me to write on

Because it can become a blog on its own

But really you start to ask bigger questions

These were few things that I realized after thinking about Death

I think I have barely touched the surface thinking about DEATH

The more I think about it

I feel everything needs to change

I need to change the rules

I need to question more

And most importantly

LIVE every day

PS : If you are someone who wants to dive deeper into this hit me up at +91 8484951848 on Whatsapp or drop me an email at Aditya@theintelligentmarketers.com