Impermanence

What is born will die,
What has been gathered will be dispersed,
What has been accumulated will be exhausted,
What has been built up will collapse,
And what has been high will be brought low.

Sogyal Rinpoche, 1993. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

I have been fighting this reality of impermanence since our cat Gracen died in October. Her unexpected death hit me hard. I realized I had let myself become complacent to death. Feeling as if I was immune to the affects of death. This was a wake up call for me to remember "that everything is impermanent and death is an inescapable fact of life." (Rinpoche)

This event has led me back to the amazing book that I read while in undergraduate school for a 'Death and Dying' class titled The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche. This was a very pivotal book and class for me in my early twenties. It made me come to terms with my impermanence at a very impressionable age. Twenty years later, I am now revisiting this book and I highly recommend it as a must read before you die (every pun intended!). This book not only prepares you for death, it more importantly prepares you for living a full life.

In remembrance of little Gracen

Namaste,
Chica~