Finding Peace: A Healthy Relationship With Death

I'm curious of something, I'm curious about anyone's perspective of it: The general statement(s) is: "Death is always certain, and that's okay," And vice versa, "You're doing a great job, don't forget about death." Basically, It's a thought of: I don't think it's a bad idea to put effort into having a healthier relationship with death. Like, don't choose death, it's more like, consider a thought or two to briefly ponder over every now and then: "How is my relationship with death in this moment?" and/or "What makes the weight of death a little easier to carry right now?" It's akin to the ring "that makes me happy when I'm sad, and sad when I'm happy". I'm curious of how people would choose to visually display that concept: thinking about death in ways that help your life rather than hurt it. The image that pops into my mind is a skeleton hand doing a thumbs up. And while I don't hate the image itself, it feels like there are different ways to visualize that that just aren't obvious to me. Like, I only mentally see it as a medical textbook skeleton thumbs up by default, any other ways to jazz that up seem kinda meh, a little uninspired. So, how would YOU see: "Death is a thing, and that's okay"? What mental image comes to mind? Or would you do the skeleton hand in a particular style. (Please excuse my YouTube-ass question format, I'm just genuinely curious about anyone else's thoughts on this. 😂) [And I hope this doesn't come off as insensitive to people's relationships with the concept of death, whether their own, their loved ones, or however one interprets the concept... I'm not saying I'm in the market for a tattoo, but I'm not not saying that either, yanno? That's more or less the depth of this post. 😂]

Explores the practice of cultivating a healthy relationship with mortality to enhance daily life, asking for creative visual metaphors beyond the 'cliché' skeleton hand. The user frames contemplation of death as a grounding practice for balance, rather than a focus on despair.

honestly this is hitting something real for me. the skeleton thumbs up thing is kinda patronizing when you think about it, like death needs to be made cute or cool to be palatable. but what you're describing feels way more like acceptance than defiance. the image that comes to mind for me is something more like... a hand releasing something. not dramatic, just the moment where your grip loosens and something falls away. there's no drama in it, no triumph either. just the quiet fact of letting go. could be leaves, could be nothing at all. the point is the opening of the hand itself. or maybe something with roots and branches both reaching and falling at once, like that duality you mentioned with the ring. something that shows life and death as continuous rather than opposed. but i get why that might feel too flowery depending on the context. the real thing though is that you're looking for a visual that doesn't minimize or sensationalize. most death imagery does one or the other. either it's edgy and dark or it's made palatable. sounds like you want something that just sits with it, acknowledges it plainly. that's harder to capture than it seems.

I like both concepts mentioned. The skeleton with the thumbs up is your own subconscious way @sp1290co of saying “take it lightly”. It’s a foundation, a starting point and that is sacred and should be honored. @wisdomseekerb ‘s visual feels more like the action and movement of death. Because death doesn’t have to be just a person transitioning out of their physical body. In the process of ascension, at the very beginning, you hear about the “death of the ego” etc and you see death expressed in many ways on Earth like wisdom mentions, such as in plants, animals. With this concept it is more of an allowance or a release, depending on your perspective. An effortless one. Sometimes quiet, sometimes not. Sometimes short processed, sometimes processed over weeks, months, years. Sometimes tangible, sometimes ideally. The idea is to release freely. Both visuals resonate to me and I think my visual would be an infinity symbol, red for passion, and set ablaze because to me, there is only eternity for souls. Yet, throughout eternity we burn through layers of ourselves, identities, stories, and even bodies. So that fire is the Divine Flame set ablaze to do its alchemical work across eternity and because Divine is ever growing, there is an infinite source to process these cycles.

Personally I'm not afraid of death itself. I've experienced it multiple times in dreams where if I hadn't woke up I would be dead. Not the classic falling from somewhere and wake up but actual fleeting consciousness last thoughts and a weightless body that just stops existing. From what people report and science says, death is probably the hardest trip of your life, which seems kinda fun. What I can't grasp is the moment where there is no after, the end of the timeline. In said dreams, which I must say were the craziest experiences coming from dreams, I came up right to that moment.. one second away from nothingness. It felt eerie but also comforting. Can't explain it.

@lyraea this! I feel like the day we are born is the beginning of the process of living and dying…all st once…yingyang; wabisabi; breathe in And out…until stillness…as the energy transitions again…I don’t know I find it comforting