{"id":612,"date":"2019-12-22T10:00:08","date_gmt":"2019-12-22T00:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/?page_id=612"},"modified":"2019-12-22T10:40:16","modified_gmt":"2019-12-22T00:40:16","slug":"this-precious-life","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/this-precious-life\/","title":{"rendered":"This Precious Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Have you ever given thought to how precious life is? As\nhumans, unlike any other life form, we have the mental capacity to understand\nthe sources of happiness and consciously create them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have the capacity to understand the sources of suffering\nand consciously eliminate them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have the capacity to create a precious life of enduring\nserenity, happiness, wisdom, love, and freedom. We call that human flourishing.\nIt is a uniquely human possibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here we are together, you and I. How incredibly fortunate.\nWe have the time, resources, soundness of mind and body, teachers, and\nteachings\u2014all available to us, right now right here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How often does it happen that all these factors come\ntogether at the same time? How often does it happen that we actually have the\nopportunity to step into a larger life of health and personal fulfillment? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have that possibility today and in the days and weeks\nahead. It is not the mere fact that we exist that is precious, but rather that\nwe have the opportunity right now to take a turn inward and become fully alive\nto life and all its possibilities, and that opportunity may not come again in\nthis lifetime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a few minutes reflect with gratitude on the precious\npossibilities now available to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: \u201cThe Four Preliminaries for a Successful Meditation Practice\u201d by Elliot S. Dacher, M.D.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a PDF copy of the above text, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a PDF copy of “The Four Preliminaries for a Successful Meditation Practice” by Elliot S. Dacher, please click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Reflecting

Reflection: “The first step for someone who aspires to follow the spiritual path is to understand how precious this human life is. Used wisely, it offers a unique opportunity to actualize the potential for enlightenment that is within us all, yet it is very easy to neglect or squander.” (Matthieu Ricard)
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"reddit\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever given thought to how precious life is? As humans, unlike any other life form, we have the mental capacity to understand the sources of happiness and consciously create them. We have the capacity to understand the sources …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":""},"yoast_head":"\nThis Precious Life - End-of-Life Reflections<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/this-precious-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Precious Life - End-of-Life Reflections\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Have you ever given thought to how precious life is? As humans, unlike any other life form, we have the mental capacity to understand the sources of happiness and consciously create them. We have the capacity to understand the sources … Continue reading →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/this-precious-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"End-of-Life Reflections\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-12-22T00:40:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Reflecting-on-this-Precious-Life-1024x768.jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/\",\"name\":\"End-of-Life Reflections\",\"description\":\"Reflections on dying and death from a Buddhist view\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/this-precious-life\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Reflecting-on-this-Precious-Life-1024x768.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Reflecting-on-this-Precious-Life-1024x768.jpeg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/this-precious-life\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/this-precious-life\/\",\"name\":\"This Precious Life - End-of-Life Reflections\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/this-precious-life\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-22T00:00:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-12-22T00:40:16+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/this-precious-life\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/this-precious-life\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/this-precious-life\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"This Precious Life\"}]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"This Precious Life - End-of-Life Reflections","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/this-precious-life\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"This Precious Life - End-of-Life Reflections","og_description":"Have you ever given thought to how precious life is? As humans, unlike any other life form, we have the mental capacity to understand the sources of happiness and consciously create them. We have the capacity to understand the sources … Continue reading →","og_url":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/this-precious-life\/","og_site_name":"End-of-Life Reflections","article_modified_time":"2019-12-22T00:40:16+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Reflecting-on-this-Precious-Life-1024x768.jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/","name":"End-of-Life Reflections","description":"Reflections on dying and death from a Buddhist view","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/this-precious-life\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"http:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Reflecting-on-this-Precious-Life-1024x768.jpeg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Reflecting-on-this-Precious-Life-1024x768.jpeg"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/this-precious-life\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/this-precious-life\/","name":"This Precious Life - End-of-Life Reflections","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/this-precious-life\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2019-12-22T00:00:08+00:00","dateModified":"2019-12-22T00:40:16+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/this-precious-life\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/this-precious-life\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/this-precious-life\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"This Precious Life"}]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/612"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=612"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":624,"href":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/612\/revisions\/624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dying-and-death-reflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}