Death is as common as a tree—and something that we are all going to face one day.

This is a fact of life. One that we forget so often we must actively remind ourselves of it.

Which is the part of the meaning behind two of my tattoos —

1. The semicolon I shared with you earlier this week

2. A life-like human skull with the phrase “Ars Longa, Vita Brevis” inscribed around it (Latin for ‘Art Is Long, Life Is Short’)

These two pieces serve as reminders of the fragility of life, and that death is a destination we’ve all got a one-way ticket to.

For the past two-and-a-half odd years, I’ve found comfort and reminder in the symbolism underlying skulls; of death and of mortality. Because, as above, there’s no dancing around the fact that we will all find ourselves playing for the Choir Invisible on day.

Death is not something to fear. Death is something to embrace and let serve as a reminder that our experience on this dusty rock is limited in time, but unlimited in how we use and fill that time.

Rewinding a few weeks, during one particular psilocybin-fuelled adventure, visions of skulls were a recurring theme for the entire trip. Recurring images like so aren’t uncommon when exploring your mind, and their recurrence is often a sign that you should spend time diving into the images and exploring why your brain is taking you there. In this case, the skulls came in many shapes, colours, and sizes, but it was the first one that was the most impactful, and has been seared into my mind.

What I saw was a 3/4 side profile of large skull, floating in the darkness much like the incomplete Death Star in Star Wars floating in a galaxy far, far away. The skull shared a similar grey outline, with gaping black holes for the eyes, nose, and mouth. The inside, however, is where this image becomes so striking. Instead of more bone, this skull was filled with golden-brown honeycomb, much like a bee hive.

Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius has a saying, “that which isn’t good for the bee isn’t good for the hive,” which jumped to mind as I stared into the depths of this floating honeycombed skull. Digging into this, it serves as a reminder and message of how interconnected we all are at our core.

If nothing else, the thing that you, I, and Garibaldi living on a mountaintop in Switzerland have in common is that we’re all going to end up returning to the dust in which we came from.

On a biological, historical level, you, I, and everyone on this planet are interconnected. A connection of which exists between all species, people, and universes.

So, let the notion of death not hold you back, rooting you in place, filling you with fear. Instead, face it. Walk into it. Talk to it, and embrace the fact that no matter what you do today, tomorrow, or next week…you cannot outrun death.

When you truly accept this, you will be free to move forward.

Death, the fact that we’re all going to be playing together for the Choir Invisible one day is one of the principles underpinning the upcoming Coffee Cartel print newsletter.

The Coffee Cartel is going to help:

— challenge you to think, do, and act differently in your life, your relationships, and business (because what have you really got to lose?

— you use your money to quite literally buy back your time (when you have more time, you can fill it with whatever you damn well please, thus bringing untold levels of enjoyment and pleasure into your life.

— create new degrees of freedom in your life that allow you to live entirely on your own terms (you can do whatever you want, when you want, with whom you want – there are no rules, limits, or boundaries other than what you create for yourself)

Because no matter what…death is coming for you, and it’s coming for me.

In my eyes, that’s reason enough to buck your fears, and start charging towards whatever your heart desires.

To gain access to the Coffee Cartel launch special 24 hours before anyone else on this email list or my social media, click thy mouse or tap thy finger here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvyR5CR6-1A

(Note: clicking the link above will automatically add your name to the Coffee Cartel pre-sale list, take you to a clip from Rick & Morty, the greatest animated show of all time, and allow you to gain access to the Coffee Cartel launch special 24 hours before anyone else on this list or my social media channels does)

_A. Mullan