The regrets of the dying points out the important and meaningful things of life. But we need to move one step further to know how to live positively without regrets. We take the teaching of the Bible as a guide and combine them with the regrets of the dying to give us the way to live well and die well without regrets. The tagline for living is "Live out your unique self in peace with God, yourself and others."
An ancient Chinese saying, 曾子言曰：‘鸟之将死，其鸣也哀；人之将死，其言也善。’, tells us that the departing words of the dying are true and good for us. http://www.inspirationandchai.com/Regrets-of-the-Dying.html gives the top five regrets of the dying. http://tonycampolo.org/if-i-had-to-live-it-over-again/ gives us the top 3 things they could have done if they are to start over again. I did some reflections and consolidated them into 5 keys. I also looked up the Bible to get some further advice for living a good and happy life (5 Keys for A Happy & Good Life). Then, we live through life through several stages that are well captured in the famous Psalm 23 that we read often in funeral and wake services. But we should read the Psalm 23 when we are young. It will be a regret for others to read to us when we laid death in the coffin. The Meaning and Cycle of Life from Psalm 23.
Here is condensed mind-map on how to live without regrets:
The 5 Nuggets for Living Well:
1. Find Your Calling
2. Live Out your Calling
3. Be Balanced in Spending your Time
4. Be & Seek Peace with Yourself & Others
5. Do Good & Turn Away from Evil in Speech & Deeds.
The Tagline for Life:
If you like the advices above compressed into a tagline, then try one of the following:
- Live out your unique self in peace with God, yourself and others. or
- Find your calling and live out your calling rightly and be in peace with God and others.
Lim Liat(c) 17 Dec 2013
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