Sunday, January 13, 2019

What Dying Has Taught Me


Rob Bell once said, "It often takes suffering and lost in order to remind us of how precious life is." While writing my first book titled ‘The Path Less Travelled,’ I did an extensive study and research on what were peoples’ biggest regrets while in their last days or on their death beds. This piece of research meant I was given access to a couple of old peoples’ home outside Nigeria. This research is supplemented by some extensive reading I did on the subject, especially a fantastic body of work from a veteran nurse who had managed many dying patients in their transition moments. I have combined all of these researches to form the fulcrum of this article. These are some of the biggest reflections dying people shared:

1. Our Time Here Is Finite.
It might be a cliché but it is a truth that time cannot eviscerate. Whether we live to be 28 years old or we live to be 108 years old, until science is able to figure out a way to make us live forever, one day our life on this planet will come to an end. Meaning, that we don't have time to wait to take that trip to Italy we've been dreaming about the last few years or to start a business or to spend more time with our family because, like it or not, the clock is ticking. So how do you want to spend your precious days or weeks, or even minutes? Remember, no one is guaranteed the next minute.

2. Do not take the people you love for granted.

One of the biggest lessons you will ever learn is to never sweat the small stuff. And family is one of the really big stuff. If you are lucky enough to have loved ones in your life, call them often. Visit them often. Share your life with the people who love you. What can be more important than the people you care about, who care about you? No one is guaranteed to live a hundred years, and even a hundred years can pass all too fast.

3. You have to follow your heart.

As Steve Jobs so famously said, "Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart." I know it can be scary chasing after our dreams, ask anyone who has tried, myself included. Following your heart, following your passion, dreaming big is not easy, because if it were everyone would be doing it. But, here's the thing, would you rather live a life of What ifs? or a life of I'm going for it!

4 Live in the now.
Now is the only guarantee we have. Now is what matters most in life. In the Power of NOW, Eckhart Tolles says, "Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life." Although some things take time and cannot be created overnight, the now is where the miracles happen. Now is when we have the opportunity to experience the intricate details of life. In the final analysis there is always something that is going right in a person’s life. You only have to live in the present to experience it.

5. Life always gives you second chances.

Life is all about second chances and life almost always gives us second chances. It is called the power of second chances. Bikram Choudhury, the founder of Bikram Yoga said "You are never too old or too broken. It is never too late to begin, or to start all over again." Each day, each breath, each moment is an opportunity for us to try again, a chance to create the life we truly want and to go after our dreams. When was the last time you asked yourself, Am I living the life I really want? If the answer is no, then maybe it's time to figure out what you can do to change it. Life will always give us second chances, the big question is: Do we take them?

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