Because We Have Lived.

“I slept and dream’t that life was joy.
I woke and found that life was service.
I acted and behold…service was joy.” – Tagore

I am inspired on this day by the words of Frank Ostaseski, a pioneer in the field of compassionate end-of-life care.

Frank helped to found the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco, California, which served as the very first Buddhist hospice in America. He first became involved in this field at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco in the ’80s. For many, it was a time marked by rampant fear, and a mindset ruled by ignorance. Even those institutions committed to the care of others, out of fear, had suddenly taken the position of turning the dying away.

“At the heart of it,” he shares, “all we can really offer each other is our full attention.”

You know, it’s interesting – I watched a young man at the store the other day. I could tell, he was struggling to find the ‘most perfect gift.’ After several moments, he walked away discouraged.

“It’s no use,” he sighed. “she never likes what I have to give anyway.”

Oh, my goodness – how I wanted to share so many things, to offer an insight of heart gathered through these many years. But mostly, to say – that the truest gift we might ever share extends far beyond a few flimsy purse strings.

I suppose that’s what has prompted Frank’s words to mind.

“In our experience,” he continues “we have noticed many dying people form two fundamental questions: “Am I loved” and “Did I love well”?”

How ironic at a moment so nearest the end, we find the means to fully engage this practice of mettā. Do you suppose it’s because loving-kindness is our one true purpose?

Imagine how much easier this life might be, if we kept to mind those much simpler things. Indeed, ‘am I loved?’ and ‘have I loved well?’

Or, more precisely, to know that even one life has breathed a little easier because we have lived.

About

Tara Lemieux is a mindful wanderer, and faithful stargazer. Although she often appears to be listening with great care, rest assured she is most certainly‘forever lost in thought. She is an ardent explorer and lover of finding things previously undiscovered or at the very least mostly not-uncovered.

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