There is a song by Tim McGraw called live like you were dying, where he hopes the listener has the chance to do exactly that. I love this song, and emphatically agree with the short statement.
There is an exercise used in coaching and therapy: the death bed exercise, where you envisage yourself on your death bed. You close your eyes, and slowly consider every single individual person who means something to you, visiting you. You have the opportunity here to tell them how you feel about them. It is an expression of love, a communication of all the love you hold in your heart. If you try it, you will weep throughout! It is so moving. And one of the reasons it is so moving is that we never (or so rarely) do it. We so rarely tell others how we really feel about them, how grateful we are for them in our lives, and how happy they make us. We’re all so busy, and yet these expressions could happen all the time! We just don’t think about it, and our communication of love enough – until it may be too late.
I remember doing this exercise years ago – and thinking how from then on, I would always tell others how much they meant to me, and I was going to be a brilliant communicator and so on. And then of course life happened and I got busy… and the concept of this improving your loving communication escaped me.
It’s weird though because it would be so easy to adopt this way of being.
I love you, I’m grateful you’re here, I’m sorry, thank you.
(Which is indeed how we should be speaking to ourselves as well! More on that another time.)
Some will say, I don’t want to dothis exercise – I’m terrified of dying. But that fear of death (which is the most prevalent fear humans have) what is it really? It is I’m scared that I’m never going to be with the people that I love the most again. So what if we tell them how much they mean to us, at least then some of that fear may be dissipated? Because at least they will know how loved they have been., and they haven’t had to wait until someone died to hear it, know it and feel it!
I love you, I’m so grateful you’re in my life, I’m sorry, Thank you.
Live like you were dying.
