Live and Die Awake

Chapter 13

Choosing Rebirth

4:29Read by Julie Wright Halbert

Julie asks for your email before she reads to you, so she knows who is sitting with her. You will not be asked again on this device.

From the book

Reflection Pause: Choosing Rebirth

Julie prints this at the end of the chapter. It is here in her words, unedited. Sit with it after you listen.

Take a gentle breath before you begin writing, allowing your words to arise from the quiet space you touched in the meditation, repeating to yourself the following at least three times before you begin.

I honor what remains.
I choose who I am becoming.

  1. As you reflect on the ashes of your life, the losses, endings, identities that have fallen away, or what feels most complete or ready to be released now, ask yourself, “What am I being invited to let go of with compassion?”
  2. Beneath the grief or change, what part of you has remained alive, steady, or quietly enduring, and where do you notice resilience, love, or strength still present within you?
  3. When you imagine the light expanding in your heart, what qualities of your emerging self begin to reveal themselves, and what feels new, possible, or awakening?
  4. Choosing rebirth often requires courage.
    What fears or doubts arise when you consider stepping into a new version of yourself, and how might you meet those fears with kindness rather than judgment?
  5. Living and Dying Awake invites conscious choice.
    What would it mean for you to choose a life of meaning and intention in this next part of your life, and what matters most now?
  6. If it feels supportive, you may wish to write down one thing you are ready to release and one thing you are ready to claim. What are you releasing, and what are you choosing to become?

Ritual: You may want to consider a letting go ceremony to release what you are letting go of and to affirm what you are becoming.

  1. Complete this sentence slowly, listening inward:
    I am choosing rebirth by ____________________.

Pause. Breathe again. Let your words settle into your body.

Closing Integration

Rebirth begins the moment you consciously choose to live from what is still alive within you.

Chapter 13: Choosing Rebirth · Live and Die Awake