Writing your epitaph can be a powerful exercise in determining who you want to be. Creating the legacy that you want to leave way before time can empower the time you have and ensure you don’t live with regret.
So ask yourself ‘What will people say when I am dead?’
This is an incredibly powerful question and gets you to think about the things that matter most.
Life is short. When you are gone, the only thing you will leave behind is the mark you make, and you should be determined to leave a positive, meaningful memory.
What will people be saying about you at your funeral? What will they think as they reflect on their relationship with you and the impact you had on their life?
While writing this I think of my sister Jan. She died far too early. She was unable to truly leave her legacy, and this empowered me long ago to proclaim that my work, and how I would make the difference would show that her life meant something. I miss being able to talk to her, see her , just have her in my life. I regret to this day that we didn’t have much contact in the last few years of her life. I know nothing I do can change that now. I will live in regret about this for the rest of my life.
I want no more regrets. I know with all the time I spent at work before my dramatic changes, took me away from my family far to often and for too much time. I will always regret this and no that my relationships with my girls has in some way suffered from this. SO I certainly know how important it is to keep a check on our lives to ensure we’re happy with what we’re doing, and making sure we don’t live with regrets.
If you can imagine an epitaph that you feel would be a worthy one to live, then you can choose to live it.
When I turned 50, . I started to think about the way I’d lived my life so far and the way I wanted to live it from that point onward.
It’s easy to get so wrapped up in what we’re concentrating on that we forget about those small things which in reality are so essential.
We get old or ill and then regret all the things that we should have done and didn’t but suddenly have no more time? I now live as though I may be gone tomorrow, I want to get so much done while I’m here, it drives me to excel, but to also notice those small moments which can be so special.
“The Dalai Lama was asked what surprised him the most, he said, “Man, because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present, the result being that he does not live in the present or the future, he lives as if he is never going to die, and then he dies having never really lived.”
So live life as though every moment was important. Let nothing be unsaid or undone if they matter to you.
What do you think goes through people’s minds as they lay on their deathbeds?
What do you think they wish they had done, or hadn’t done?
The most common response is
We regret opportunities we let slip away
We especially regret anytime that we could have taken action, but didn’t
How do you want to be remembered and what things do you never want to regret?
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