Relating to Death, and Living a Better Life

08.08.2022 - By Rick Hanson, Ph.D., Forrest Hanson Play

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The median life expectancy for a man living in the United States is roughly 80 years. That works out to 960 months, 4,160 weeks, or about 29,000 days. Rick is sneaking up on 70 years old, which means, on average, he's got about 10 years – or 520 weeks – left.

Putting the time we have left into simple numbers can be both a bit daunting and remarkably clarifying. When you're in the middle of them, the days can blur together. But the truth is that our time’s limited, and how we use it is up to us. On today’s episode of Being Well, Dr. Rick and Forrest Hanson talk about what's helped them come to terms with mortality, the reality of our limited time, and how we can use that knowledge to refine our focus and live a more fulfilling life.

Watch the Episode: Prefer watching video? You can watch this episode on YouTube.

Key Topics:

0:00: Introduction

4:00: How Rick’s relationship with death has changed over time

11:05: Appreciating life as a comfort in accepting death

14:00: Dukkah, Tanha, and contentment

16:30: Distinguishing the ocean (reality) from the wave (ego)

21:20: Acceptance, contraction, and expansion

25:35: Finite experiences, and undelivered communications

31:30: “Life is for the living”

33:10: Giving, contribution, contentment, and fulfillment

40:05: What to do about regret?

47:40: Serenity in old age

49:00: Practical ways to hold awareness of death

55:05: Recap

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