Rebirth of the new

We will be prepared for the big death when we accept the little deaths that come to us each day - the natural endings that are part of every life. Jack Kornfield speaks to this in A Path With Heart:

When your vision clears and your heart opens, you will discover that you are living in a constant process of beginnings and endings. Your children leave home; your marriages may begin and end; your home is sold; a new career begins; your work ends in retirement. Every new year, every day, every moment is a letting go of the old and a rebirth of the new. Spiritual practice brings you into the most intimate contact with this mystery. Sitting still, you encounter the unstoppable arising and passing of your breath, your feelings, thoughts and mental images. More deeply still, you discover that your consciousness itself can change, giving rise to a thousand different views and perspectives. Finally, all that you take yourself to be - your separate body, mind, and individuality - can unravel before you until you discover that your limited identity is not your true nature.

And what a wonderful discovery that is. When we realize that our true nature is not our personality, our ego, then endings - even death - hold no terrors for us.