I recently came across this article about the regrets people have on their deathbeds and found it very enlightening. It was written by a woman who worked with people who were in their last days of life and it got me thinking about what I might regret and where I ought to change course before it is too late. You may be surprised by the list of regrets the dying had. The top 5 regrets included: living for the expectations of other people rather than what is truly important to you, working too hard, not expressing feelings, not staying in touch with friends and not choosing to be happy.
I know I often tend to focus on the negative side of situations. I have had a lot of difficult personal circumstances in the past number of years and that sometimes makes it difficult to choose happiness! The root cause may include not wanting to cause other people to feel envy if things are going too well. Also, I think I am afraid I will not be liked if I am too happy! I feel a little annoyed by people who are always beaming joy as that seems a bit phoney to me. How could they possibly be that positive all the time when there are so many problems to deal with? I realize now that we can choose to be happy, no matter what circumstances arise. We can control our thoughts, even if life seems less than ideal. So that is one regret I hope to address. What about you?
Comments 1
Such an interesting topic! And how sad in a sense. . . but I guess we sometimes forget that we have the power to change things.
Thanks so much for your tweet–glad to have found your blog as well! 🙂