In our last post we acknowledged that the three messengers of aging: old age, sickness, and death visit each of us with an invitation to gain wisdom from their arrival.
But gaining wisdom from messengers our culture teaches us to fear is difficult unless we acknowledge that fear and seek to loosen its grip on our minds and hearts.
In his book, The Blooming of a Lotus, Zen master, Thich Nhat Hanh, offers the following practice on the three messengers of aging to help us move past our denial and confront our fear. Thich Nhat Hahn says that as we welcome our fears into awareness, they lose their energy, and their impact on us lessens.
Here is the practice he suggests:
“Knowing I will get old. I breathe in. Knowing I can’t escape old age, I breathe out.
Knowing I will get sick, I breathe in. Knowing I can’t escape sickness, I breathe out.
Knowing I will die, I breathe in. Knowing I can’t escape death, I breathe out.
Determined to live my days deeply in mindfulness. I breathe in. Seeing the joy and benefit of living mindfully, I breathe out.”
May this practice help you to welcome the Three Messengers of Aging and the wisdom they bring.