After four decades of sitting
with dying people and their caregivers,
I believe that studying the process of how to die well
benefits even those of us
who may have many years of life ahead.
Of course, people who are sick or suffering,
dying of old age or catastrophic illnesses,
may be more receptive to exploring the great matter of dying
than those who are young and healthy,
or who still believe in their own indestructibility.
Yet the sooner we can embrace death,
the more time we have to live completely,
and to live in reality.
Our acceptance of our death
influences not only the experience of dying
but also the experience of living;
life and death lie along the same continuum.
One cannot—as so many of us try to do—
lead life fully
and struggle to keep the inevitable at bay.
Joan Halifax
Being with Dying:
Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death