DO WE ALL DIE WITH SOME REGRETS?













“If I'm sincere today, what does it matter if I regret it tomorrow?”
― José Saramago, Blindness


Do we all die with some regrets?

My answer to this question is – ‘Yes’, we all do.

All?

Yes, all.

Now, many of us may not agree with my straight-forward answer… or may not like to hear it. But, as Steve Jobs said, every mistake in our life – or a wrong choice - is only a connecting dot… and, the beauty, here, is: none of us can connect these dots looking ahead… we can only connect these dots looking back!

Yes, many of us, along the journey of our life, do look back with regrets… and, I believe, it is never too late to smile, be kind to ourselves and, thereby, heal even it means we have no time left to amend…

The fact that we have now the grace and wisdom to look into the eye of our regrets… yes, this itself is our greatest victory… It can be the most liberating and peaceful experience of our life!

A while ago, my friend, Sandeep, sent me a beautiful video in Hindi. It was based on Bronnie Ware’s book, ‘The Top Five Regrets of the Dying’. I hadn’t read Bronnie’s book. So, after watching the video sent to me by Sandeep (Hindi), I searched for Bronnie’s book and what led the woman to write this book…

I was impressed and inspired both. Look at this woman’s life! Despite her good academic qualifications, she was spending her life in palliative care, which meant she would spend her time with patients who had a few weeks or days left to live… It was during this period, Bronnie delved into the hearts of her patients and gathered insights into their major regrets in life. This led to Bronnie writing an article (titled: ‘Regrets of the Dying’) which was destined to take the online world by storm… Later, the article became her best-selling book, which got published in some 29 languages!

My question: Did Bronnie Ware know all these would happen before she chose to do a work which could seem like a waste of time?

Now, even after the commercial success of her book – coupled with fame and name – is Bronnie’s life free from ‘all’ regrets? Will she die regret-free?

I can only smile!

I repeat: we all die with one regret or the other… and, that’s perfectly fine… If we can do amends, we should… If we can’t, we should be kind to ourselves… smile, accept, heal and learn to die in peace…

I highly recommend you read Bronnie Ware’s original article and book, watch her videos and the video in Hindi shared by my friend, Sandeep… Here are the links…

http://www.bronnieware.com/blog/regrets-of-the-dying

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-Q7mmav4xY





 Hope you like them...


GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Azriel D'Souza



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