Walking Each Other Home: Conversations on Loving and Dying, a book by Ram Dass and Mirabai Bush, was published in 2018. It’s a conversation between two friends and luminaires on love, death and the spiritual path, and it includes guidance for the end-of-life journey. In their book, they say that we come into this life from Source, live our lives, and then transition back to Source. They provide us with insights into how we might address the inevitable end.

Through my own spiritual growth, this is a concept I have come to believe and accept. I believe we come from Love, experience life in this dimension, and return to Love. It was easy for me to accept when I was first introduced to it because that’s all it was—a concept. Death was not a frequent visitor in my life. However, that was many years ago.
 

As we know, life and time march on. I now find myself in the stage of life when, along with everything else that comes with aging, death is becoming more familiar. Over the last several years, I have experienced the passing of people I love and have known for decades. It is becoming more and more evident to me that death, like birth, is truly a part of living in this reality.

The question I ask myself is: How will I deal with transition when the time comes? Will I stand by what I claim are my beliefs? Or will I exist in fear?
 

I have recently been blessed to be a bystander as I watched someone celebrate their inevitable transition. Gloria Parker, the original owner of The Aquarius Magazine, had been dealing with health issues for many, many months. In the last week of January, her condition apexed. While she managed to rally enough strength and energy to be released from the hospital, Gloria was sent home after being told that her time was near.

When given this kind of information, many people I’ve known switched from living life to giving up. It’s that moment in time, a pivotal point in our lives, that is the focus of Ram Dass and Bush’s book. It is a moment of realization. It’s a time when we are forced to acknowledge what we truly believe. Do we believe this dimension we are living in is all there is? Or do we feel it’s just a stopping point to a greater good? Gloria appeared to believe in the greater good.

From all accounts, Gloria spent the entire month of February enjoying every day, every breath. While she did many things to extend her life, she also spent quality time with people she loved and cared for. They laughed. They cried. They talked about the past. They talked about the future—theirs and hers. She looked forward to seeing her beloved daughter who preceded her in death. People she had not seen in years came to visit her. She mended bridges. She strengthened ties. She let people know what they meant to her, all the while recognizing that life was not over, just in transition. 

Instead of preparing to die, it appeared to me that Gloria was just preparing to move to her next address, which, unfortunately, would be out of reach for most of us. It felt to me that she was preparing for a great adventure, and her friends were there to walk her home.

Gloria Parker’s life has left great lessons for many of us. She lived her life as only she could. Her strong personality left an impression wherever she went. She was steadfast in her beliefs, including helping as many people as she possibly could, smiling at life and being open for the next adventure. I truly believe she thought life was meant to be enjoyed because during the decades I had known her, she seemed to be enjoying every bit of it.

Through The Aquarius, Gloria touched the lives of thousands, including me. She gave us readers the opportunity to recognize there might be more to life than what seems obvious and to look at life through different lenses. She helped me look at death through a different lens, too, as I now recognize it is not a punishment to be but as an opportunity to return to a state of bliss and a new adventure to be welcomed with a sense of wonder.

Much like the gift to see life differently, Gloria has left me with the opportunity to see death through different eyes as well. Thank you, Gloria. You will be missed. ❧

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Linda Minnick is a speaker, author, life coach and Preferred PSYCH-K facilitator. She lives in Roswell with her husband, John. Her most recent book, New Day, New Life, can be found on Amazon.com.