…What do you think?

As we begin the year of the Wood Snake, I’m reminded of the power of our minds.

My last post r/t the year of the Dragon, I opened the discussion of “transitioning” and what that means to you. Now, I invite you to explore what the word “death” means to you.

A reminder that the word “transitioning”, as it relates to Hospice, references a time when death is near, the initial stage of dying. Death occurs in stages/phases. Any change is a death; therefore, happens in phases. Oxford Languages defines the word “phase” as a distinct period or stage of events or a process of change or development: in the topic of physics; to adjust the phase of something, especially so as to synchronize it with something else.

In my journey of death work, I’ve been exploring “What happens when we die?” Physical body death is visible, what happens to our spirit/energy force? Science teaches us that our brain waves are rhythmic fluctuations/repetitive patterns of neural activity in our central nervous system. When we are in our state of awakeness, most people are in Beta impulse. Some Gamma waves. They are both associated with high state of cognitive activity. Slow waves are Theta and Delta. I’m going to focus on the Theta wave and it’s correlation with death for purpose of this post.

Theta waves, 4-8Hz, characteristics include states of inward focus/deep relaxation. Various regions of the brain do not emit the same brain wave frequency simultaneously. Brain wave patterns are unique for every individual. If they are suppressed , anxiety, poor emotional awareness, and stress is apparent. If honored/acknowledged, they have benefits of supporting our intuition, creativity, and connecting us to nature. We are all nature beings. Death is the only commonality for ALL nature beings. It’s also the only action that we experience and “can’t” come back and share what happens. It’s the ultimate “unknown”, hence bringing up fear in people.

The elemental stages of death are simply described:

Earth; loosing our grounding/falling/impaired walking. Water; crying/increased incontinence/increased release of fluids. Fire; agitation/feeling of “being stuck in our skin”/trying to get up when unable to. Air; hallucinations/breathing changes/end of life.

In my work, I go deeper into each stage. Everyone’s end of life(EOL) journey is specific to that person. Layered by multiple aspects, including their individual development/growth during their time in this human experience, and diseases. Therefore, even as the stages flow consecutively, depth of each experience in that stage, overlapping of stages, and time spent in each stage varies for each person.

I recently worked with a science teacher. He expressed fear, not wanting to be a burden to his family, and dying peacefully. We discussed brain waves and the science of the topics. When we are in Theta wave, it’s most recognizably described as the state when we are not completely awake, and not yet asleep. It’s the level of awareness we all experience as we are falling asleep. The “in-between” phase. In physics, it may be considered as the phase to synchronize our spirit/soul/energy with something. Whatever we call the higher “something” most of us believe in. We agreed I would pay close attention to his EOL journey and record my observations. An experiment, if you will, surrounding gathering more information on the death experience. My observations include; speaking about death in his love language of science eased his fear, he died before he became a burden (as defined by him, NOT, his family), and he died peacefully in his sleep. Our hypothesis was, Are we able to control our own death…my conclusion is, to a certain extent, “YES”.

It’s interesting to me how diving into the deep end of death, is guiding me to live my life with a different perspective. Tibetan Buddhists practice dying everyday. The Tibetan Book of the Dead, The Bardo Thodol, provides a philosophy about life and death that resonates with people of many different beliefs. If you are interested in death, supporting a loved one on their EOL journey, or have lost the physical presence of loved one and struggling to navigate the grief, I encourage you to look into this book.

As this work pushes me with curiosity, open mindedness, and glimmers of a deeper understanding, I’m grateful for the magnificent shift of energy the Year of the Wood Snake brings. Remember; any change is a death. Speaking of deaths in and during our human experience, I’m currently experiencing a death in this phase of my journey. I’m focused on manifesting BOLD changes. I’m pushing through my fears, accomplishing short term goals, and practicing gratitude for where I am emotionally/spiritually. Honoring my authentic self and acknowledging the process of grieving this death. I’ll write more about navigating grief in a future post.

Bee and I are taking meaningful action with mindful consideration towards our next phase. The Year of the Snake serves transformation through shedding of the old skin/patterns that no longer serve our growth. Opening to a deeper wisdom, growth, and change. It takes courage to push through vulnerability and fear. Today is Full Moon in Leo. I’m a Leo! I’m blessed to have a close circle of support to remind me that I am courageous and emotionally intelligent. I’m currently developing a workshop on death. I’ll discuss some of the topics brought up in this post, navigating grief, and rituals/ceremonies. Please comment/contact me if your interested in learning more about death and how it r/t life.

In closing; Death is a commonality for us all. We all experience multiple deaths throughout our lives and inevitably physical death. The way we live our lives appears to reflect in our death. “The quality of your relationships determines the quality of your life” -E. Perel. I remember asking a few friends of varying ages “What does success mean to you?”. The response from my younger friends (ages late 20’s-30’s) surrounded money, response from my middle aged friends (ages 40’s-50’s) surrounded exploration of life’s purpose, and response from older friends (ages 60’s-70’s) surrounded relationships. Isn’t that interesting?!…