When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it
was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me,
and since then, for the past 33 years, I've looked in the mirror every morning and
asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am
about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a
row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered
to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything all external
expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure these things just fall away
in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. 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. www.lifeofexcellence.com
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning,
and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas
was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable,
and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised
me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for "prepare to die."
It means to try and tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10
years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned
up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck
an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach into my intestines, put a needle
into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who
was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors
started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is
curable with surgery. I had the surgery and, thankfully, I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few
more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more
certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept: No one wants
to die.
Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death
is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be,
because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It's Life's change agent.
It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday
not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry
to be so dramatic, but it's quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by
dogma which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise
of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.
And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They
somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
CAclubindia
