The Practice of One's Own Death

Michel Foucault wrote about the practices of antiquity that helped a person look at their own life from the outside and break free from imposed forms of thinking. One of the deepest of them was meditation on one's own death.

This tradition appears in many cultures. The Stoics called it memento mori, "remember death." Tibetan masters contemplated impermanence, the Taoists the natural completion of the life cycle. Seneca and Marcus Aurelius used the memory of death as a tool for inner clarity and a way not to waste their lives.

Reflecting on death helps you see your true priorities. When the illusion of endless time disappears, it becomes clearer what actually matters.

This practice is especially fitting in periods of completion and inner cleansing, when it helps to let go of what has run its course and clear space for the new.

To do the practice, find a place where no one will disturb you for 20–30 minutes.

Turn off your phone.

Sit comfortably.

Close your eyes.

Imagine that you have been given absolutely reliable information:

You have one year left to live.

Only one thing matters:

In a year, you will no longer be here.

Now ask yourself these questions.

What in my life would disappear immediately?

Which problems would stop mattering?

Which people would stay close?

Which relationships would I end tomorrow?

What am I wasting years of my life on?

What do I keep putting off?

What do I still not dare to do?

Then imagine a different situation.

You have one month left.

Then one week.

Then one day.

Watch how the answers change.

This is exactly where many people see their life for the first time without its familiar illusions. The memory of death helps you separate the essential from the secondary and free yourself from needless anxiety.

When the practice is over, open your eyes and write down everything you saw. Especially the answers that stirred a strong emotional response.

A person who remembers their own mortality lives more consciously and more freely. Death reminds us what truly matters and what does not.

Anna Inskaya
House of Wanderers