A wonderful friend of mine (thank you Andrea!) posted this article on Facebook, “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.” It is interesting to hear what people had in common as regrets at the end of their life.

All five regrets are powerful insights for living; the two that resonated the most with me right now are realizing that it is a choice to be happy and to not work so hard.

Choose To Be Happy

It is not always possible, but I have gotten better at being aware of when I am making a choice that is not serving me and then choosing another perspective. This is a big “ah ha” for clients that I work with too. It is very powerful advice for enjoying the journey, even when the road is bumpy. I was impressed with how well the people in Puerto Rico do this. When I lived there it was a challenge to see the poverty in some of the areas and yet the people were smiling and enjoying their lives regardless of their challenges and level of poverty.

 Don’t Work So Hard

Yes, it is good to be ambitious and of course be responsible with your finances, but it was a common regret that whole time periods of life were missed due to working too much. This has become a bit unbalanced in our culture. When I was traveling to Europe for my prior corporate job, I was impressed by the culture that most people live by, “work to live not live to work.”  People took long lunches away from the office to reinvigorate, they went on long holidays in the summer every year, and lived more modest life styles so that they could spend more time with family and friends.

Which of the five regrets resonates with you? How can you take an action now to avoid this regret in your future?

Please share your insights in a comment

photo credit via Flickr creative commons: Julien Lagarde