Yes, we are all going to die.

I don’t think your life can ever be the same after someone who is very near to you dies. A mom, a dad, a brother, a sister, a child.

For me, it was my mom’s fiancé. He was like a dad to me. And it happened right in front of my eyes.

My life was never the same after that day, and I think about death often.

But do we really live like that? Few of us do.

I heard a Buddhist teacher say that when someone close to us dies, for the next three months, we live as we should truly live. We take things slower, we are kinder to each other, we work shorter days, we spend more time with each other. But after three months, the memory of death slowly fades, and we get back into the rat race.

Apparently, the same happened in New York after 9/11. For about three months, there was a sense of community on the streets. People greeted one another. People were kind to each other, opened doors, let people skip queues, helped the elderly. Then, after a while, the memory of death faded, and it was New York as we know it.

We live as if we’ll live forever.

We won’t. Remember that and align your days with meaning.