I hate the Circle of Life!!!

[tblue]

Forgive me for this rant. But I hate that everyone has to die. I hate that our bodies have to age and crinkle and wear out. I hate that children have to grow up and move away. I hate that there's nothing I can do about it. I wish I could hold time still but I can't. Maybe if I didn't love people so much, I wouldn't care as much. But I do love and it hurts to let go. Sorry to bitch and moan about something no one can help or change. I'll be happier later, but I really hate this thing called time and, if I could talk to God, I'd ask Him, "Who made THAT call? Can't we come up with a better system?"

[abq e streeter]

1. Seems to be a rough night for a few people here tonight...I'm sorry you're hurting

I wish I could come up with something better than that;being sorry , but that's the best I can do... I have of course felt the same way too often to keep track of, but finally surrendered and figure that if my creator ( who and what-ever he, she, them, or it may be) decided that this is how it has to be, I'm willing to bet they have more wisdom and knowledge of how it all works and why, and so I at least try to accept it. I hope that in the light of a new day tomorrow, that maybe you will too. Sorry if this sounded maudlin or worse, condescending, but that's just how I've dealt with similar feelings and it seems to help at least sometimes.

[texanwitch]

3. I visit a nearby nursing home, and have become close to many people who have passed on.

It is never easy.

Many of them welcome death, as a end to pain.

Many of them are just ready to go, and they just decide to die.

I hope I have gained some kind of wisdom from being with these people.

I have held the hand of more then one of these people when they passed over.

It has made me feel very humble to be with them at this point.

Many of them had no family, it was just me and a nurse or an aid.

I have become to see death as a passage not so much as a ending.

[smalll]

2. I like your honesty.

"But I hate that everyone has to die. I hate that our bodies have to age and crinkle and wear out."

It is a huge problem, and I don't see anything good in it. Also, the Buddhists would say that the realization that nothing is certain but aging, sickness and death is key to grasping the nature of existence.

At the same time (and I read that the Dalai Lama said something similar at some point) -- ask yourself, if you were certain that once we die, that really is the end -- that our personality and consciousness simply shuts off forever -- would that make you happy, or sad? The "correct" answer is that it should make us happy. As a 41 year old - half way through life - I am feeling more and more melancholy about the speeding-towards-the-end of my own life. But if I could be CERTAIN that death was really the end, it would be a comforting, liberating feeling, because then nothing would really matter, and life could be approached with much more equanimity. Yet I doubt that death really is the end. I fear when I die it will be like waking up in high school the morning of the SATs and feeling panic because I hadn't prepared properly for them.

Sorry to be all Debbie Downer here, but again, I like your honesty, and I think it's not a bad thing at all to think about the Big Questions now and then!

[LeftyFingerPop]

4. The circle of life fucking blows.

[tblue]

5. You are all so sweet!

I keep saying that I am gonna **TRY** to live my life like there is no tomorrow, but then I get stuck in this funk where I feel like I should be still and just hold on. That's dumb. It's not working. Anyway, I'm going to a baby shower AND a wedding shower tomorrow. Beautiful developments in the lives of two young ladies I adore. I want to tell them to enjoy every moment because it passes, but I don't want to make them worry and I don't freaking wanna cry in front of them! Oh please anything but that. So instead I will just smile and give them a lot of love and all my best wishes. Man, I am such a baby tonight. Sorry sorry sorry.

[velvet]

7. I love your sig line

Best wishes.

Here's a trick that helps me when I'm freaking out ...

Close your eyes. Breathe, relax. Become aware of the sounds around you, just listen. Scan for sounds near and far ... computer hum, passing cars, a sigh in the next room, cricket song ... just listen. If your thoughts wander, drag 'em back to the sounds.

A couple of minutes of this usually calms me right down, when I remember to do it. It's quite refreshing.

[MiddleFingerMom]

6. Last year, I was talking with a doctor in the ER when I (suddenly) died...

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...drifting away quickly, I was fully aware that I was dying right then and right there.
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My (now both cool AND fascinating) only thought was, "It's OK. It's OK."
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Awright... my only TWO thoughts.
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I learned that death at this point does not scare, nor would it necessarily even disappoint me.
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Though I'm in no hurry whatsoever.
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I LIKE the idea of "waking up dead" at my SAT's without having properly prepared for them...
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...because -- knowing me -- the GOOD news will be that I'm in my underwear...
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...much better yet... ... ... ... ... ... NAKED!!!!!!!.
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FUCK YEAH!!!!!!!!!
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[jobycom]

8. Wow, I remember going through that a while back.

A sudden realization of mortality, and all the loss I was going to feel, and the complete helpless anguish, almost fear, that I could do nothing about it but lose everyone I loved, unless I died before them. I remember hating the world over it, wanting it all to be different... Same things you're saying. I'm glad to see I wasn't too unusual for feeling that. It was powerful and scary and angry and overwhelming. Sorry you're going through it. Wish there was something cool I could say to help you. I never found a solution, I just passed on through it. I remember holding on to people I loved more tightly--literally holding them--and being afraid to let them go for fear I'd never see them again. It was a tough time. Hang in there.