Mortality, the Basics

Posted on July 11, 2021 by Pam Lazos

or Thirteen Tips for Beating Back Death — Stick Optional

I woke up the other day with a Blood Sweat and Tears song, When I Die, in my head, one of those songs from childhood that stick with you like mice to a glue trap so, of course, I went to Youtube to listen, dancing around the kitchen while waiting for the coffee to brew as the cats looked on with mild interest and the dog, used to my morning dance routines, rolled his eyes and laid down on his bed, waiting for the noise to subside.  Why the sudden preoccupation with death?  Well, I just celebrated a birthday, one of the aughts, and no, I’m not going to tell you which, not that you can’t figure it out from one google search or other.  If nothing else, aughts are a great reason to take stock of your life.

Now I’m not trying to be morbid, but I think we should all take a page from the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying and cast a long hard look at our own mortality, i.e., death.  The Buddhists believe that only in looking at our own death can we live a good life, but I can’t even write the word death with ease.  So I turn to music, and as death songs go, the Blood Sweat and Tears song is great one:  upbeat, positive, we’re all going to go so we may as well have a good backbeat in our heads while doing it kind of song. 

The day before I woke up with the Leon Helm song, When I Go Away, another classic.

Rather than think all these death songs are a shout out from my subconscious to pack my bags cause the reaper’s a’ comin’, I think it’s a clarion call to being present and living each moment to the fullest because, if the physicists, Buddhists, and Jeff Buckley are to be believed, all we have is this moment.  

So here are my thirteen tips for, what?  Beating back death?  Living your best life?  Sustaining happiness? Getting rich?  Being content? How about all of the above and in no particular order.

  1. Be kind.
  2. Dream big and often, and as a supplemental bonus to this, you’ll get plenty of sleep which apparently we all need more than we ever knew.
  3. Read something that inspires you every day.
  4. Write your morning pages.  A la Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way, I write some morning pages every day.  Out with the old, in with the new as Julia says.
  5. Ask yourself at least one hard question every day — and answer it.
  6. Laugh — a lot and with abandon. 
  7. Move your body.  Dance, jump, hike, bike, do whatever you like, but move it, baby.
  8. Be grateful.  Everything matters. Not just dogs or cats or black lives or blue lives or conserving farmland, or reducing plastic waste, but EVERYTHING matters.  Be grateful for it all, even the crappy stuff, because that’s where the lessons are and also what makes you like tempered glass — practically shatterproof.
  9. Hugs. Hugs are a superior form of communication, like a big security blanket, providing warmth and comfort without the need to plug it in.  Give and receive hugs every day, pets included.  You can learn a lot about a person from hugging them. My friend Monical likes to hug on the left side. She calls it heart-to-heart hugs. I love this.
  10. Pay it forward.  This will help you as much as the person being helped even if you never even meet that person or know a single thing about them.  Trust me on this one.
  11. Live life wide open.  That means being vulnerable.  If this scares you, suck it up.  The only way to live life is with honesty, integrity and vulnerability, otherwise you are just going through the motions. 
  12. Be like water.  Drink it, conserve it, and protect it.  Go with the flow.  When you capture it in plastic bottles that one day end up in the ocean it somehow ruins everything.  You’re made up of 72% water.  Best to keep it clean out there so you can keep it clean in here.
  13. Breathe.  Just breathe.

And that’s it, my best tips for living your best life in the best possible mind, body, spirit combination/alignment/state of mind.  You’re probably already doing half the stuff anyway so just amp it up a bit before time’s up.  

JK.  Time’s an illusion plus matter is neither created nor destroyed. Your physical body is like one of those cool ice sculptures at a fancy Asian restaurant. Odds are your death transition is just going to be another version of you — like water transitioning from ice to liquid — so don’t get your drawers all up in a bunch worrying about it and go live your best life.

As always, thanks for reading.

pam lazos 7.11.21

About Pam Lazos

writer, blogger, environmentally hopeful
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37 Responses to Mortality, the Basics

  1. Klausbernd says:
    July 23, 2021 at 1:24 pm

    Hi Pam,
    why is time an illusion? Isn’t that a cliché?
    Time is a dimension, basic of life because it has to do with action, with change.
    Wishing you a great weekend
    The Fab Four of Cley
    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
    • Pam Lazos says:
      July 23, 2021 at 1:56 pm

      Cliche, yes, but there’s a reason that we use them, right? Because they help explain things. Perhaps illusion isn’t the right word. Time is everywhere at once, correct, and if we had some idea of how to control time we could pop in and out of different parts of it as randomly as popping in and out of different stores to buy eggs or clothing. But we don’t have such a machine so we are unable to do the popping. I think time as we know it is a mass consciousness experiment that we’ve all agreed to experience linearly in our human bodies, but once we return to spirit form, as opposed to human 3-D form, we can probably experience whatever part of time we want. I think we do this nightly when we dream. So when I say time is an illusion, I mean that time isn’t just linear, but multi-layered and much more than we humans experience daily. Thoughts?

      Liked by 1 person

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      • Klausbernd says:
        July 23, 2021 at 2:26 pm

        Dear Pam,
        for us time is like mathematics a sensible as well as the best way of ordering reality. Or seeing the other way round, time is a means of understandig movement. It’s a concept like mathematics or an axiom. That has nothing to do with control. And as we learned already at school that an axiom is used as long as we might find better one.
        Another question: How would you define ‘spirit’? What is a spirit form? Is this a concept helping to understand reality?
        Time running in different direction or circular is the hypothesis f.e. of Wheeler, Everett and, if we rember it right, Rhyner. But it didn’t help to understand macro or micro reality better. Therefore it isn’t used any more.
        May we speak of different realms. We, the Fab Four, speak of reality and it seems to us that you speak about fiction.
        Anyway, all the best
        The Fab Four of Cley
        🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      • Pam Lazos says:
        July 23, 2021 at 2:44 pm

        Ah, definitely a conversation to have over beer! I don’t know how to answer the part about fiction as I think Einstein postulated that if a person could be in a ship that traveled faster than the speed of light then they could basically “outrun” time, forward or back, BUT, I caveat that by saying while I have an interest in physics and enjoy reading books about its applications to modern life, it’s the only class I ever dropped in college so my understanding is often surficial. Having said that, I think physics opens up the possibility that time does exist all at once and it is there that I hang my hat. As for spirit, it’s what’s left of us when we leave this body behind, that is, pure consciousness. Also, I suck at math so if you are speaking from that vantage point, I can tell you that you’ve already lost me at hello. It’s not that I don’t appreciate all that math has done for me, it’s just that it’s not something I understand easily; it’s concept are lost in translation to me. So it could be that we are speaking two different languages and therein, is always the problem. ;0)

        Liked by 1 person

      • Klausbernd says:
        July 23, 2021 at 4:03 pm

        Well, Einstein worked on the basis of mathematics & physics on one hand and thought about fictious scenarious on the other. F.e. travelling faster than the speed of light, is more or less fictious and, by the way it showed in experiments that Einstein wasn’t right concerning this point.
        Einstein’s ideas are unfortunately vastly used by people who don’t really understand what relativity means for our understanding of reality. And they use to mix Einstein’s ideas with Heisenberg’s – still two theories (relativity theory and quantum mechanics) that don’t fit together.
        But may I ask you a question, why do you blog about something you really have nearly no idea about? Actually the same with your expression `pure consciousness´. Okay, to discuss this is just fashionabe with all the literature about AI. But as you surely know the challenge is to define AI and more so to construct human like self learning machines.
        Anyway, now I’ll have a beerin our idyllic pub next to the sea
        Klausbernd 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      • Pam Lazos says:
        July 23, 2021 at 5:00 pm

        Sorry, but I have to take issue with some of your comments. Is there no place for a discussion of ideas in the world and if not, then what is the purpose of our existence? I’m sure you can find a counter for everything I’ve ever said on my blog because duality is the nature of our reality, plus, what’s true for me may not be what’s true for you. Everyone comes to understanding through the lens of their own existence and so if you are saying that what I think and feel about something is wrong, well, from a purely physics or mathematics perspective perhaps that may be the case, but you fail to account for me as the human in that interaction, and since you brought up Heisenberg then I say, how can you discount my observers viewpoint (especially when I have caveated my statement with the fact that I am not a physicist) since observation is the very crux of reality. Life is not black or white and there are as many viewpoints as there are galaxies. Respecting other people’s take on their own reality is a tough but good place to start when living life as a human on earth. Also, I disagree with the way you disparage fiction. Without stories, mankind would never move forward. Stories are the very basis of our world, the foundation of everything we’ve built.

        Like

  2. Silvia Writes says:
    July 21, 2021 at 6:50 pm

    Great advise all around. I need to move more; have been a little too stagnant this past year, and my lower back is not happy.
    Lovely post. Nice to have landed here, and happy belated birthday.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  3. da-AL says:
    July 20, 2021 at 11:11 pm

    happy belated bdy, Pam! great thoughts & tips – laughter is so important yet elusive in challenging times ❤

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  4. Patricia Furstenberg says:
    July 16, 2021 at 5:31 pm

    A heart-felt reflection on life and I thank you for sharing it with all of us.
    Hugs, Pat

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
  5. hilarymb says:
    July 15, 2021 at 8:33 am

    Hi Pam – I saw … didn’t realise there was a significant birthday involved … happy ‘aught’ whichever one it be! and here’s to many more … with happy, healthy heart – leaving all as comfortable as we can make the land, the people … our loved ones … as we gracefully ease towards our demise. Excellent tips, as too Michele’s … we need peace and caring.

    I came across something that would interest you … Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK) is running trials to confirm that mussels could filter out plastics if deployed in estuaries.
    https://www.pml.ac.uk/Research/Projects/Removing_marine_microplastics_with_mussel_power
    I hope you don’t mind the link …

    Be kind, smile, think of others … and live to the good of all and everything … cheers Hilary

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
  6. Linda Schaub says:
    July 15, 2021 at 1:30 am

    Happy belated birthday Pam … I am late to the party as I’m perpetually behind in Reader these days. I like your list and they are good suggestions to live by. Hopefully the pandemic taught us something more than just how to properly don a mask or wash our hands, but to be more appreciative of what we have and to preserve the good things we have, i.e. the things we previously took for granted.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
  7. Michele Anderson says:
    July 14, 2021 at 10:47 pm

    Love, love, all of your tips Pam! I would also add, “Don’t have any expectations.” xo

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply
  8. Carol A. Hand says:
    July 13, 2021 at 12:51 am

    Love you words of wisdom, Pam! 💜

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
  9. Ally Bean says:
    July 12, 2021 at 5:26 pm

    A lovely list of how to live life to the fullest. I like how you came to write it and what you wrote on it.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
  10. Susan Scott says:
    July 12, 2021 at 1:08 pm

    A wonderful post Pam thank you! Uplifting, joyous, just simply wonderful! Have a great big beautiful bountiful birthday xxx

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
  11. TanGental says:
    July 12, 2021 at 7:15 am

    Pretty fine Pam. I like that list. You put it into words very well. And happy birthday. Just add the numbers of your birthday together and act that age. Works for me. I’m 11 next birthday and looking forward to it!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
  12. Rosaliene Bacchus says:
    July 11, 2021 at 8:17 pm

    Excellent tips for living our best life before Death comes calling 🙂 I’ve found that reflecting on my mortality provides a deeper appreciation for the people in my life.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
  13. Jacqui Murray says:
    July 11, 2021 at 7:05 pm

    Great tips. I especially like the last one. I think without that, death becomes a certainty.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
  14. KDKH says:
    July 11, 2021 at 4:55 pm

    These are great recommendations! I am usually a bit more restrained and less trusting than a life wide-open warrants, but I am working on that!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
  15. Betsy Lukens says:
    July 11, 2021 at 4:00 pm

    Pam,
    This is great! And Happy Birthday! I thought of your birthday before it happened, and then I lost track on the day, so thanks for the reminder!
    Have fun, always!
    Love & xox, Betsy

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

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