We’ve shared that traveling to the light can mean many things during this season as our days grow longer, and last week we touched on lightening our load by reducing anxiety and discord in conversations. Let’s move on and this week consider how to lighten our load by focusing on our priorities and really begin living them each day.
I’m going to tread gently as I share the next sobering information, but here’s my backstory for doing so: My wonderful sister Miriam was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 50, and died when she was 54. On my 50th birthday, my doctor discovered I also had breast cancer—a life-altering moment in my life. I was so fortunate that I responded well to treatment, and I’m so grateful for terrific care and for my recovery.
Surprisingly, those two profound experiences actually turned out to be a rich blessing for me. I came face to face with my own mortality, and it’s given me a lifelong commitment to doing what really matters in my own life experience. I often ask leaders during coaching conversations, “At the end of your long life, what would you want to have done?”
In her foundational work in palliative patient care, Australian nurse Bronnie Ware found five themes people conveyed to her as they reviewed their life through the lens of its ending. She compiled what is named “The Top Five Regrets of The Dying”. Before I name them though, let me share that I choose to think of them actually as “Five Challenges For Our Lives” They are…
I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
I wish I hadn’t worked so hard
I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings
I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends, and
I wish I had let myself be happier.
I’m wondering if any of these resonate with you? Are you traveling to the light by being highly aware of your own truth, or are you (like so many of us) weighed down by expectations of others? It’s a question worth pondering, and I encourage you not to just read or listen to this message, but to take some time to reflect. If not now, when? Perhaps you might choose to share the list of challenges with someone you love and have a conversation about what it means for you…that strikes me as such a healthy way to think about these questions!
My wish for you, dear friends, as we travel together in this time of more life-giving light each day, is that you’ll find the strength, integrity and courage to ask yourself the meaningful questions and move toward the life you’re meant to live. Our strongest leaders live each day walking with purpose and certainty, grounded in their strong values…I’m convinced you’ll serve your people in a brilliant way as you strive to do the same.
We’ll close this week with the soft and beautiful rendition of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” by Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole. A lovely reminder for all of us to dream!
