Bronnie Ware, a hospice palliative care nurse from Australia, shares what she has heard her patients say. According to an article in The Guardian “she recorded their dying epiphanies in a blog called Inspiration and Chai, which gathered so much attention that she put her observations into a book called The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.”
Ware identifies common themes she heard from patients:
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 hard.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
As you enjoy the summer sun… is there anything in this list that inspires you? Anything that surprises you? What might your regrets be? Is it possible to have this type of clarity in a life review if we are not facing death? Is there a different clarity that comes when death is imminent?
What do you think?
Stay tuned….
This labyrinth was drawn in the sand by Dr Michael Ashby who has developed a passion for labyrinths and their value in meditation and reflection. For more information on making a labyrinth.
