“What determines your experience as you die? According to Tibetan teachings, it is the power of your habits—your karmic momentum. At the moment of death, when the familiar reference points of body, identity, and the physical world dissolve, what remains is the raw momentum of your habitual tendencies.
This is why meditation practice is so central to death preparation. Every time you return your attention to the breath rather than following a thought, you are building the mental muscle that will serve you in the bardos. In the chaos and disorientation that is said to be characteristic of the after-death states, the ability to refrain from reacting and simply rest in awareness is the single most important skill.
The work of preparing to die is the work of learning to open rather than contract. Contraction is the body’s reflex when something painful approaches. Openness is the choice to stay with what is here without grasping or pushing away.
Every familiar irritation, restlessness, or impatience is a small contraction. Every felt moment of connection, beauty, or kindness is a small opening. The same pattern that runs through ordinary life runs through dying.”