If you’ve ever been to a funeral, you know that death can be a grueling process filled with mourning and suffering. Many memories of the person who was just here yesterday come flowing to the forefront of your mind. Death seems so terrible, and yet it’s one of the only things every human on Earth has in common. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in our own importance and indulge in our own ego, that we sometimes forget that one day we’ll no longer be here as well. Our finite amount of time creates a sense of urgency and is actually the driving force behind every one of our decisions, whether we realize it or not. This is the uncomfortable truth of everyone’s existence.
“One day, you and everyone you love will die. And beyond a small group of people for an extremely brief period of time, little of what you say or do will ever matter. This is the Uncomfortable Truth of life. And everything you think or do is but an elaborate avoidance of it. We are inconsequential cosmic dust, bumping and milling about on a tiny blue speck. We imagine our own importance. We invent our purpose — we are nothing.”
-Mark Manson, Everything Is Fucked: A Book About Hope
It’s called the uncomfortable truth for a reason. In our society death is always seen as a negative. No one likes to talk about it. Many avoid the topic and push it to the very back of our minds, even though, deep down we know it's inevitable. While the majority of people take this approach, have you ever thought of making death a constant reminder to yourself?
This is the concept of Memento Mori. The Latin translation is “Remember that you must die” or “Remember that you are mortal”. This saying was meant to serve as a reminder for oneself to reflect on their own mortality. You might be thinking to yourself, well that’s depressing, why the hell would I want to do that for. However, it’s only depressing if you’re thinking about it the wrong way. The right way to reflect on one’s limited amount of time should actually create a sense of priority and purpose. Often close encounters with death can lead to drastic changes to the way someone is living. Whether that be a near-death experience or a funeral for a friend or family member, that subtle reminder of our looming death can suddenly create a sense of urgency propelling us to make major changes we have continuously put off. Memento Mori is meant to bring death to the forefront of our minds and actually meditate on the fact that we might not have as much time as we think. You don’t have to wait for something drastic to happen in order to take massive action.
“We wait for crisis, trauma, loss, disease, and tragedy before we get down to looking at who we are, what we are doing, how we are living, what we are feeling, and what we believe or know, in order to embrace true change. Often it takes a worst-case scenario for us to begin making changes that support our health, relationships, career, family, and future. My message is: Why wait? We can learn and change in a state of pain and suffering, or we can evolve in a state of joy and inspiration.”
- Joe Dispenza, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself
Focusing your attention on death on a day to day basis doesn't have to be morbid or depressing, it can be invigorating. This time constraint which applies to everyone you meet can allow you to move with a purpose. A constant reminder to stop waiting for a tomorrow that might not ever come. This remembrance can cause feelings like fear, doubt, anxiety, and frustration to disappear as we bring our focus back to things that actually matter. Death implies life just as much as life implies death, without one, the other one ceases to exist.
- Mac Miller, Doors
