The real spiritual progress of the aspirant is measured by the extent to which he achieves inner tranquility. ~ Swami Sivananda

In the end, we hope for comfort and peace

At the end of our lives there is not much to hope for, gone is the physicality we counted on for so much of our life. If you live long enough, many of your friends have moved on before you. Your children if you have any, have moved on either geographically or with lives and likely children of their own. No one wants to die, it scares the hell out of all of us. For much of our lives we cling like hell to this existence like a tick on a hound. Watching someone make the transition from hanging on to letting go is difficult when it’s someone close to you.

In the end, what we hope for, for anyone, is that they come to terms with the end, that they in some way, can find peace and comfort in moving on. Not an easy thing for anyone to do but hopefully we all are able to get there and move on easily. I’m in this process right now and comfort and peace is all I can hope for, for them and all of us.

I’m tired, there’s a level of guilt in even having that thought, much less putting it in writing. At a time like this you want to be fully focused on the person going through the process of ending their life. But it is naive to think that there aren’t impacts that ripple out from this event like a rock landing in a pond. We beat ourselves up for considering ourselves and our own needs during these times, but that’s not right, or fair to ourselves. Like they say on the airplane, put your mask on first before you help others.

No matter what you may be dealing with right now, and we’re all dealing with something, never forget that it’s equally important to take care of yourself as well. ~ Rev Kane