You will disappear.

Truly.

Pouf! Vanished. 🌈

Your body, your things. All your elaborate or silly thoughts. Every emotion — big and small — will vanish.

It might happen tomorrow. It might happen in a year, or in a few decades. Exactly when? We don't know.

But you will — we will — disappear.

Just like a rainbow in the sky.

[Take a deep breath. And keep reading. This is important, I promise.]

‍

I've just come out of a solitary silent retreat, and this is the thing I really wanted to share with you when I sat down to write.

What might or might not happen after death, I won't even try to get into here, and we won't know… until we know.

What I feel we can say pretty much uncontroversially is that the fruits of your actions — what you will have done with your body, speech and mind/heart — will somehow outlive you in this world, as least for a little while.

So this begs the question: how are you choosing to live your life?

What kind of impact are you having — on your environment, the people around you, your community or even society at large?

If you were to die tomorrow, will you be remembered as someone who was kind, generous, attentive?

Or will people think "Damn — they just never had time for the important things"?

Have you done things, even little things, that will outlive you in a positive way? Counselled someone. Planted trees. Gave your time. Shared your skills. Smiled at strangers. Hugged your loved ones (enough).

‍

What are you waiting for?

This might sound really cheesy, but honestly… it's one of the most profound and life-changing thing we can reflect on.

The truth of our own mortality.

(It totally changed my life, and you can read a bit more about that here).

‍

‍

I spent the last two weeks in silence and meditation in my tiny wooden cabin up in the Andalusian mountains.

I hadn't done a solo retreat in years, and it felt like a real homecoming (and a much-needed nervous system reset).

‍

In my breaks from meditation sessions, I was reading Women of Wisdom, a collection of short biographies of Tibetan yoginis — incredible realised women practitioners who lived (and died) centuries ago.

It was the last couple of stories that inspired me to write this newsletter.

They were only two pages long.

Two pages.

I thought wow. An entire human life — devoted to spiritual practice, in service of their students and communities, full of emotions, challenges, big moments — and all that's left is two pages.

Pouf!

Everything else… gone. Just like a rainbow. 🌈

But the seeds they planted — how they lived and taught, the impact they had on people's lives — this has outlived them.

Centuries later, their wisdom was reaching me, in my little cabin on another continent.

How marvellous!

Emaho as we buddhists say!

‍

‍

Inner space

‍

Hey, it's the weekend.

Switch off. Go on a walk. Clear your system from the stresses of the week.

Find a cosy spot — outside or back at home with a hot chocolate — and take these important ideas and questions into your meditation:

•  The single one thing we absolutely know for sure:
We will pass away. We will vanish.

•  If every single human on the planet really took the time to consider it, reflect on it, and lived accordingly — even just some of the time — chances are our society and our planet would look pretty different right now.

•  If you truly remembered you're going to vanish, just like a rainbow, how would you choose to live your life?

•  When you're on your deathbed (if you're lucky enough to die in a bed) what will have made your life meaningful?

•  What will make you feel like "Hey, bummer I have to leave now but boy — it was a life truly well lived!"

I'd sincerely love to hear what you discover. 💌

‍

‍

Go deeper

‍

If you're interested in the Buddhist path, I highly recommend the book I was reading, Women of Wisdom by Lama Tsultrim Allione.

‍

It's a truly wonderful and inspiring collection of stories of incredible women totally devoted to their spiritual path.

The introduction by Lama Tsultrim is also full of fascinating and thought-provoking reflections on feminine wisdom, and the place of women in Tibetan Buddhism.

‍

With an awareness of death, and deep gratitude for this life,

Love, always,

JENNIFER TESSLER

Founder & Director, Alalaho