Awakening Experience

A confrontation with death or mortality that serves as a catalyst for positive life transformation. An awakening experience is a form of existential shock therapy where awareness of death enriches life, helping people rearrange priorities, trivialize life's trivia, communicate more deeply with loved ones, and live with greater authenticity and purpose.

Source: Described in 'Staring at the Sun' by Irvin D. Yalom. Yalom explains how confronting death can serve as an awakening experience that transforms people, helping them rearrange priorities and live more fully.

How to practice

1. 1Allow yourself to consciously confront mortality and death awareness
2. 2Notice what this awareness brings to your attention about how you want to live
3. 3Use the awareness to identify what truly matters versus trivial concerns
4. 4Allow the experience to help you assume power to choose what you really want
5. 5Communicate more deeply with those you love
6. 6Appreciate the elemental facts of life more keenly
7. 7Notice how death awareness can diminish fears of others and increase willingness to take risks

Based on literature