This story was published in Medium’s Fiction Shorts. It is a drabble, 100 words. The prompt was to use the word oxygen written in the self-help genre.
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“You want me to do what?”
“Before you put your food scraps in the composter, let them sit on your kitchen counter, open to the air, for three days. Observe how the oxygen breaks down the material into nutrients that will enrich the soil — from death comes new life. It’s nature’s way.
“Becky said you’re a strange psychologist, but she does seem different, more vital.”
“The second homework assignment is to imagine your body decomposing from bones to dust.”
“Huh?”
“Once you accept death’s inevitability, you’re ready to live. Do this daily meditation, and I promise you will come alive.”
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The corpse meditation is from Anthony De Mello’s Awareness: The Perils and Opportunities of Reality. On my self-help shelf, this is one of my go-to resources.
