#joan halifax

Dear Steven,

The Supreme Meal is made of all of the ingredients of this life, even the sour and bitter ones.

You asked me how can we make dying easier? I must tell you the truth: I don’t know. But here is some simple counsel.

Findpeace in small things.

Appreciate your life, all the good you have done. This is really important.

Consider how others are suffering, maybe in a similar way to you. Compassion is a treasure box.

Make peace with those around you.

But the truth is, we just do the best we can. Somehow we burn through it all sooner or later.

I feel the horizon of dying may seem really small when we are going through it, but it wraps around the Milky Way and takes us home to the boundlessness that we really are.

Oh, dear Steven, I find it difficult to accept that you are dying so hard. I wish it otherwise for you. And this is the way it is: raw and not predictable. You are in my prayers, my heart,

Joan

— from Being With DyingbyJoan Halifax (Shambhala Publications, 2008)