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It will happen to us.
Some of us have had our parents pass away already, and for some of us, that will live long enough – it is still coming to us. It’s sad to notice how so many of us look for excuses not to spend time with our parents – just listening to them, instead of looking at…
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Life is often not as predictable as we think
One of the most misleading things about our world today is the increased sense of comfort we feel. We live increasing longer and safer. But then there’s something that so often very happens to those who least expect it – a car crash, heart attack, unexpected illness, freak accident. The purpose of pointing this out…
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Your birthday 20 years from now
In this Mementom exercise, we’re going to forget about death and dying for the moment. For many of my readers, old-age seems so far away most of the time. The Memento Mori advice “live today as if it was your last day” may allow us to put a moments thought to possibly making better decisions right now…
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Small Tragedies In Life
Sometimes in life, we think things “just couldn’t be better”. Our career is going well. Our love life is great. We look good. We feel good. We can stay up late, work hard and play hard. Then we fall and perhaps break a leg, catch a cold, or lose a job and the reality of the…
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Dancing With Death
Originating in France in the early fifteenth century, “danse macabre” was an artistic genre of memento mori, depicting skeletons dancing together – usually in a line or circle – as was typical of the dancing style of the middle ages. Many original versions of “danse macabre” can be found in Medieval churches across France, Germany,…
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Phrases
Here’s a short list of Latin phrases that you’ll commonly find throughout Mementom.com and other sites focused on the art of living and dying well. I use them to explain concepts that are core to Stoic, ancient Roman thinking about being aware of death and living life to the full. I also find them easier…
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Reasons
It isn’t macabre or nihilistic to think of death. It’s the start of a proper, braver engagement with the possibilities of life. For centuries, artists produced ‘memento mori’, works of art that would remind their viewers of death and usually featured a skull, flower and an hourglass. The point of these works wasn’t to make…
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Seneca
Today, let me introduce you to Lucius Annaeus Seneca, better known as Seneca the Younger, or just plain Seneca. He is remembered as the advisor to the Roman Emperor Nero, an author, philosopher, politician, playwright and speaker, living at the same time as Jesus Christ. For Stoics he is most celebrated for his works “De…
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Visualize Memento Mori
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Steve Jobs Memento Mori
Live Each Day As If It Was Your Last When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, some day you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have…