An uncomfortable but inspiring exercise:
Imagine being a ghost at your own funeral.
How awful would that be? Seeing all your loved ones, hearts breaking and grieving as they send your remains off to eternity.
Being able to see and hear them, but not touch them, not even deliver a final word of comfort…
The value of this exercise is, if you do it right, you’d give anything for just one more day. Anything.
Then you can return to the present moment, where you still have time.
Struggle with gratitude? That will sort you out real quick. If you can’t imagine being grateful for every breath, then you will be after this funeral meditation.
Another benefit of this morbid exercise in stoicism?
Seeing that the world will go on without you.
Your story will continue without you.
Now, without you around, your story will be different. And how happy it is and how long it goes for depend on your legacy.
If you moved people, then your story will continue through them – and through the folks they inspire in turn.
It doesn’t end with your death.
Thank God for that. It keeps it from being a short story.
And this frame of mind will help you complete the exercises in Your Story Isn’t About You – my practical guide to combating Failures of Sentience.
Failures of Sentience are moments of anti-stoicism, where your weakness, selfishness and cruelty bubble through to hurt you and those around you.
They’re really no good.
And every time you do one, your legacy wilts and your story grows a little shorter, darker and sadder.
But overcoming them is easier than you might think. In fact, a lot of it comes down to what you don’t do.
Focusing on a few of these for a few weeks will make you feel better and be better.
Master all of them and you’ll be exceptionally sane, stable and spiffy.
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