From my The Garden: Perennial Reflections on Beginnings and Ends Chapter 30 Gifts
"Loizzo suggests (“Tricycle” magazine First published spring 2013 issue, later in the 10/16/19 on line issue) that some of the gifts the end of life offers are
• the opportunity to reconcile conflicts we have within ourselves and with others,
• the chance to forgive ourselves and others,
• the chance to be grateful for our lives and the relationships we formed during our life,
• the opening to deeper loving intimacy with ourselves and our loved ones.
• The dying process also gives us the chance to rise above our habitual shortsightedness and myopia and prepare to accept the inevitable.
• The dying process is an opportunity to become more mindful of the moment and our presence in each moment of life.
• There is also dignity we can discover in our dying that underlies the intimacy we have with ourselves and the people helping us die.
• Finally there is an illumination to be won in the retrospective inner search we do to make sense of our lives from the perspective of our departure. The garden reminds us of these precious gifts that each of us can receive and treasure during our final days of life."
