Ponder this:

Sunday, November 20, 2011

It is Sunday at 4:37am and I am awake and growing drowsy. One of the reasons I love to get up in the wee hours is the fuzzy foggy fading that precedes my return to bed and the floating return to sleep. Ah, going back to sleep is one of my life's great pleasures. 
One morning I toddled back to my pillows with chilly toes. I arranged myself among my pillows, pulled the covers up to my ears, made sure my nose was well out into the air. My drift off to sleep was plagued by those cold toes. "I wish I'd fall asleep!" I thought. "My feet always warm up when I fall asleep." 
My consciousness had nearly gone away when a wave of warmth rolled over me from shoulders to feet. It felt just like a bolt of warm cloth moving down my body, enshrouding me in pure deep comfort. It felt so good that I smiled into my pillow, there all by myself, and the thought came to me: "I bet this is how it feels when you die."
Wouldn't it be just something, and not the least bit surprising, to find out that dying feels good?


I read something long ago that pointed out that the human body is designed to enjoy everything that it has to do. The functions required for ongoing life feel good. Eating, sleeping, digestive functions . . . they all feel good. It would make sense that dying would feel good. Not the getting ready to die: I don't mean that. I mean the final moment . . . the giving up of life. 
Maybe it feels good.
Maybe in the last seconds, there is a flash of, "What was I so scared of?"

4 comments:

esbboston said...

I feel terr-i-ble. I must NOT be dying. Drats!

Hilary said...

That's a wonderful, comforting thought. I suppose sleep is the closest we can imagine.

Among those have-to-dos.. reproduction. Conception is lovely but you're going to have to sell me on the feel-good of childbirth. ;)

Dr. Kathy McCoy said...

I sure hope that's true and that act of dying itself is not to be feared. It makes sense that the process would be pleasurable so we would let go. It's an interesting thought -- and wonderful post!

Frank's Corner said...

You know, I have had that same thought. Like, once you pass, you find yourself saying, "What was all the fuss and worry about...that was so easy!" Candace