THE TOP 5 REGRETS OF THE DYING: Profound Lessons You Can Apply To Create A Life Of Meaning and Purpose Before Its Too Late
We all know that everything that lives will die, yet we all live as if we are going to live forever… yet the dying have important lessons to teach us about fully living so we can die without regrets
THE DAWNING LIGHT,Volume 8, # 716 Wednesday, January 17th, 2024
SPIRITUAL SOUP KITCHEN Section # 113 Stories by Chinmayan about using the challenges and blessings of daily life as your spiritual path
Images in this story courtesy of Pixabay
THE TOP 5 REGRETS OF THE DYING: Profound Lessons You Can Apply To Create A Life Of Meaning and Purpose Before It’s Too Late
We all know that everything that lives will die, yet we live our daily lives as if we are going to live forever, but the dying can teach us important lessons, so we don’t have regrets when our time comes.
This is the first in a series of stories about learning to use the fact that we will have to leave this world behind sooner or later, to create a life of meaning and purpose so when that time comes, we can greet death with a smile and depart without any regrets.
WHAT THE DYING HAVE TO TEACH US ABOUT THE TRUlY IMPORTANT THINGS IN LIFE
In 2011, Bronnie Ware, published a book entitled “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying—A Life Transformed By The Dearly Departing,” which was inspired by her years of experiences as a Hospice nurse, attending hundreds of patients during their last days before their deaths.
The book became an international bestseller, sold over a million copies and has been translated into 32 languages.
I am going to quote keys passages from it here, because what she shares with us is so important.
As Bronnie says in one of her videos…” This book is much more about life than death….”
From the introduction to the book:
“The book’s message is clearly one that resonates with people from all walks of life.
As this book continues to reach an ever increasing numbers of hands and hearts around the world, I have noticed that it gives people permission to make changes and find immense courage. It allows tears to flow and hearts to lift. It supports forgiveness and teaches kindness. It also reinforces just how sacred and precious life is….”
“When some of my dying patients insisted I share their message onward, they meant so others could fully grasp the anguish and heartbreak that dying with regret causes…
They wanted me to help others find the courage they lacked…
As I set about creating my own regret free life…while still caring for the dying…I came to understand just how difficult it is to let go of all that stops us being our absolute best self.
Living regret free is not something achieved in a flash…it is created by an ongoing day to day process of conscious decisions, loving actions to ourselves and a whole bucket of courage.
We are all going to die, and none of us wishes to do so with regrets.
In our heart, we want to live our best life, which includes daring to be our best self.
I am incredibly grateful to have witnessed the reality of death and regret.
Facing this has given me the courage on many occasions, when life felt too hard.
Finding the courage to act…will never be as painful as lying on a death bed full of regrets.
If we are able to face our own inevitable death with honest acceptance…then we need to shift our priorities well before its too late.
This gives us the opportunity to put our energies into directions of true value.
Once we acknowledge that limited time is remaining…we are less driven by ego…and more driven by what our hearts truly want.”
We will do a much deeper dive into this subject in coming issues, but for now here are the Top 5 Regrets of the Dying, which are distilled from interviews of hundreds of hospice patients as the most important things they wanted to warn those of us who are still living about.
The Top Five Regrets of the Dying
1) I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2) I wish I hadn’t worked so much and so hard and neglected important things.
3) I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4) I wish I’d stayed in touch with friends and those I loved…and expressed my love for them.
5) I wish I’d let myself be happier, more content and appreciative of what I had.
I highly recommend this book as one of the most heart opening and insightful reads for anyone who wants to live life to the fullest and take advantage of the blessings and potential we all still have available to us to fulfill while we are still alive.
This book shines from the radiant overshadowing of the divine on every page.
It is published by Hay House and here is a link to it on their website:
“The Top 5 Regrets of The Dying” by Bronnie Ware
And here is the link to Bronnie’s wonderful website, which is a treasure trove of her blogs, videos, books and resources:
“This book had a profound impact on my life” —Wayne Dyer
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