What if the meaning of life is revealed not by how we live, but by how we face death? Recently I listened to a podcast with Susan B. O'Brien, RN — a hospice nurse and death doula who wrote The Good Death. She has a wonderfully unique perspective on making death a sacred experience, treating it as a normal, peaceful transformation. I chose this interview by David Asbury because I've been teaching about what happens when you die — a course releasing on my website next year. Even though it's complete on our side, I'm still exploring ideas around death and what it reveals about why we are here.

You will often hear me quote Dr. Steven Gundry: “Die young at a ripe old age.” We’ve been brainwashed to think that as we move towards our elder years, we must accept our bodies, slowing down our system’s malfunctioning and living with some sort of affliction. 

Yet the overarching question is not what is death, but what is the meaning of life? I’ve come to realise that death helps us focus on what really matters, right here and right now.. So many stories come from oncology nurses or hospice nurses that talk about the number one pain of a dying person isn’t physical or emotional; it is wishing they had done more with their life, wishing they had been more loving or less angry. So, if we know this, why not put it to work now when we can do something about it. 

Asking the Question from the Wrong Direction

Maybe we have been looking at the question from the wrong direction. Maybe instead of asking what life means while trying desperately not to think about death, we need to bring the two together. Because death may tell us something extraordinarily important about why we are alive. 

We Are Souls Having an Embodied Experience

I teach that we are not simply physical beings who somehow acquire a soul. We are souls having an embodied experience. We come into physical form to experience, to learn, to create, to love, to heal, and perhaps most importantly, to become conscious, to literally expand consciousness. And then, when the physical experience is complete, we leave. 

The body ends. Consciousness continues. That changes the question. Instead of asking, What can I accumulate before I die? perhaps the better question is: What am I becoming while I am here?  

What About Your Soul Health?

We spend enormous amounts of energy taking care of our physical health, emotional health, mental health and financial health. All of those things matter. But what about our soul health? Caring for your soul can be supported in simple, everyday ways — you’ll find some of the tools we love for this journey here.

The Etheric Body and the Desire Body

The physical body is only one aspect of our being. There is also an etheric body and what I call the desire body, carrying energetic patterns connected with our embodied experience. When physical life ends, the process of separation is not necessarily instantaneous. There is an energetic withdrawal. There is a life review. There is a gradual disengagement from the physical form. This is the kind of soul-level awareness we explore in the Akashic Records training, where you learn to access your own record and the wisdom it holds.

What We Carry Forward

And there are things we may carry forward: unresolved desires, emotional imprints, attachments, patterns, lessons still unfolding, and the energetic signature of the life we have just lived. 

I see it as consciousness continuing its education. Just like you might re-review a favorite book, or movie, when we ruminate, on the good things of our life, and release the sadness and disappointment, we literally are creating a version of life that is both compelling and rewarding. This version projects us forward toward similar experiences and choices. If you’d like support with this practice, the Illuminate app offers guided meditations to help you release the old and create a more compelling version of your life.

Why the Meaning of Life Becomes Immediate

And suddenly, the meaning of life becomes much more immediate. Because if consciousness continues, then what we heal now matters. What we forgive matters. What we release matters. How we love matters. The choices we make when nobody is watching matter. 

What if life is not primarily about achievement? What if it is an opportunity for consciousness to experience itself? Through relationships. Through heartbreak. Through creativity. Through joy. Through mistakes. Through courage. Through the thousand ordinary moments in which we decide whether we will act from fear or love. 

We are continually creating an energetic record of our experience. That doesn’t mean we need to become frightened of making mistakes. This is not about perfection. It is about consciousness. 

We humans get confused. We make poor decisions. We believe things that later prove untrue. We sometimes give our authority away. The important thing is whether we become conscious enough to recognize it, and do something different next time! 

Can I change? Can I release what is complete? Can I forgive myself? Can I return to center? Can I remember the Divine within me? That is soul work. 

At death, everything we used to define ourselves eventually falls away. Our job title disappears. Our bank account stays here. Our house stays here. Our body stays here. Even the personality through which we navigated this particular lifetime begins to loosen its hold. 

At death, what falls away — and what remains:

• Your job title disappears
• Your bank account stays here
• Your house stays here
• Your body stays here
• Even the personality you moved through this life with begins to loosen
• What remains is consciousness — the soul, the spark of the Divine

Imagine that. No body. No room. No familiar external reference point. Only consciousness. What remains? 

This is why I believe understanding death can profoundly change the way we live. The unknown creates fear. When we understand a process differently, we can meet it differently. 

Instead of What is happening to me? there can be a deeper recognition: My body is completing. I remain conscious. I remain centered. And ultimately: I know where I am going. 

There is another important part of this teaching. Consciousness requires discernment. We should become aware of what we agree to, what we surrender, and where we give away our authority. That applies while we are alive, and I believe it applies to the soul’s continuing journey as well. 

No More Karma — Purpose, Not Punishment

For years I have taught: No more karma. By that I mean we can consciously examine programming that has completed its purpose instead of assuming we must suffer indefinitely because of something in our past. 

Perhaps you didn’t come here merely to pay for something. Perhaps you came here to do something. To teach. To heal. To invent. To bring kindness where there was cruelty. To speak a truth. To change a pattern that has existed for generations. To introduce a possibility that could not have entered the world without you. You might even be a researching visitor, like the protagonist in the film, K-Pax. 

Your purpose may be proactive rather than punitive. Think about how differently you would live if you truly knew that. 

Death as a Teacher for the Living

This is where death becomes a teacher for the living. We do not have to wait until the end of life to release what is complete. We can begin now. 

We can heal emotional imprints. 

We can examine old agreements. 

We can release identities we have outgrown. 

We can practice gratitude. 

We can make peace where peace is possible. 

We can stop rehearsing resentments we no longer want to carry. 

Soul work you can begin now — don’t wait for the end of life:

• Heal emotional imprints
• Examine old agreements and where you gave your authority away
• Release identities you’ve outgrown
• Practice gratitude
• Make peace where peace is possible
• Stop rehearsing resentments you no longer want to carry

And we can ask ourselves: If my physical life ended tomorrow, what within me would still feel unfinished? Not unfinished according to society. Unfinished within my soul. That is a very different inventory. 

Perhaps we are here for consciousness to experience itself. Perhaps we are here to love. Perhaps we are here to create. Perhaps we are here to transform experience into wisdom. Perhaps we are here to remember that beneath all the identities we accumulate, there is something deeper: a consciousness, a soul, a spark of the Divine. 

And perhaps the meaning of life is not a single answer hidden somewhere in the universe waiting for us to discover it. Perhaps we create meaning through the quality of consciousness we bring to being alive. 

Then death is not life’s opposite. Death becomes part of the teaching of life. 

It reminds us that this incarnation is precious precisely because it is temporary. 

So, love while you are here. Create while you are here. Heal what you can. Release what is complete. Become conscious of what you choose and what you give your authority to. And if you feel called to go deeper into this work, explore our upcoming classes and events and join us.

And ask your Higher Self—not someday, but now: What did I come here to bring? 

Because maybe the deepest preparation for dying is not thinking constantly about death. Maybe it is learning how to be completely, consciously alive. 

Live as If You Knew Your Exit Moment

My mother knew the date of her last day on earth. What if you could “act as if” you knew your exit moment. And that your time here was limited. What would you do differently? Finally, when this particular journey is complete, perhaps the final lesson is beautifully simple: 

Release. Trust. And go home. 

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