The Last Look

I recently tried an exercise called The Last Look.

You stand in front of a mirror and imagine that this is the very last time you will ever see your physical self. Not symbolically. Not someday. This body. This face. This form that has carried your soul through a lifetime.

What I experienced was profound. I was deeply moved—even to tears. Not from sadness, but from immense gratitude and deep love. Instead of the familiar habit of scanning and judging, of casually noticing the places where time has quietly left its mark, something entirely different arose. I experienced the connection my physical body and my soul body have.

In my work, I spend a lot of time in meditation and sit with my soul self frequently. But on this occasion, I experienced the integration of my soul and my physical body in a truly beautiful way. What I felt was immense gratitude and deep love—for the body that has carried me, adapted, endured, and stayed.

The Last Look reveals something we rarely slow down enough to recognize: how sacred it is to be embodied at all. To have a physical form that senses, remembers, moves, holds experience, and carries us through this world. We often forget how extraordinary that is—until we pause long enough to truly see it.

In that moment, there was no separation between body and soul.

There was partnership. Not something to fix. Not something to improve. Just something to honor.

This experience opens a quiet but powerful question:

If this were the last time you would ever see your physical self—

What would you say?

Would you thank your body for staying with you? For carrying your soul through this lifetime? For everything it has held and moved through? Most of us have never spoken to ourselves this way. Yet when we imagine not having the chance again, the words come easily.

Before the year turns, I invite you to try the last look.

Stand in front of a mirror. Look at yourself and take yourself in. Imagine this is the very last time you will ever see your physical self.

Notice what arises.

And then ask yourself: What do I want to carry forward from this moment?

Let that, and a deep respect for the body and soul walking together through this life, be what stays with you.