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To me, death is a teacher whose wisdom and simplicity can be awe-inspiring. Humanity, as a whole, fears death; however, death is inevitable. For as an old saying goes, you can win a million battles with death, but death only has to win once.

This resistance to an inevitable part of nature brings a certain amount of pain and discomfort. When we come into this life, we are already starting to die as the sands of our life start to run. So many people see death as the enemy; these same people don't always live life, which is an entirely different focus.

Long ago, I realized that what we focus on tends to have a strong influence on our everyday lives. So one day I decided to focus on life...instead of my inevitable death. I found that in trying to live life to the fullest, the idea of death bothered me less and less. Then, by keeping death as a companion and teacher instead of my enemy, I found true living and a new perspective that lays the foundation for a smooth transition later when my time comes.

Death became a great teacher of life. Death teaches perspective and priority. How many times have we heard of people who radically change their lives and lifestyles after surviving a life-threatening situation or after having a near-death experience? Once you see death face-to-face, life takes on a whole new look and feel. One way to allow death to teach us is to remember that death is always on your left shoulder, just behind you. This is similar to thinking that this will be your last day, week, or month. The problem with this exercise is that if you only have a month to live, you would leave nothing in reserve. For example, if all the money you have would only have to last a month, you could spend everything, liquidate your assets, and live very well, doing whatever you whish for the remaining month. The odds are that you will live past the month, so obviously this method has flaws. But thinking that death is just past your left shoulder, a constant companion, also changes your perspective:

For some, the drive for fame and accumulation of wealth no longer looks as appealing compared to issues of family.
For others, petty arguments cease. For example, the next time you are in an argument, just glance over your left shoulder and sense death standing there. Many times, I find the argument seems pointless to me and I just want to quickly resolve it or just drop it completely.
Forgiveness sometimes is easier for people to address. Some things become easier to forgive and some

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