Hello friends! Hope you're doing well? As everyone knows, we're all supposed to depart this life one day or another, and we don't know when. We also can't decide when this will happen. But what we can is choose the direction we want to give to our life and so, choose the best way to get there.. In this post, I'm going to give you some reasons why you should write your own obituary. Don't be afraid.. Here we go!
But first, let's start with an important exercise..
Find a quiet place that is completely private, free your mind and start imagine,
“In your mind’s eye, see yourself going to the funeral of a loved one. Picture yourself driving to the funeral parlor, parking the car, and getting out. As you walk inside the building, you notice the flowers, the soft organ music. You see the faces of friends and family you pass along the way. You feel the shared sorrow of losing, the joy of having known, that radiates from the hearts of the people there. As you walk down to the front of the room and look inside the casket, you suddenly come face to face with yourself. This is YOUR funeral. All these people have come to honor you, to express feelings of love and appreciation for your life.
As you take a seat and wait for the services to begin, you look at the program in your hand. There are to be four speakers. The first is from your family, immediate and also extended — children, brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents who have come from all over the country to attend. The second speaker is one of your friends, someone who can give a sense of what you were as a person. The third speaker is from your work or profession. And the fourth is from your spiritual community or some community organization where you’ve been involved in service."
Now think deeply. What would you like each of these speakers to say about you and your life? What kind of husband, wife, father, or mother would like their words to reflect? What kind of son or daughter or cousin? What kind of friend? What kind of working associate? What character would you like them to have seen in you? What contributions, what achievements would you want them to remember? Look carefully at the surrounding people. What difference would you like to have made in their lives?
This is called the funeral exercise, and it's allow you to begin with the end in mind. It's come from Stephen Covey in his book "The 7 habits of highly effective people". As Covey said,
"If you carefully consider what you wanted to be said of you in the funeral experience, you will find your definition of success."
Monteigne (1533-1592) said :
"Wherever your life ends, it is all there. The utility of living consists not of the length of days, but in the use of time; a man may have lived long, and yet lived but a little. Make use of time while it is present with you. It depends upon your will, and not upon the number of days, to have a sufficient length of life."
In this sense, writing your obituary can be therapeutic and provide some perspective on life. When you have a clear end in mind, then you can actually start decomposing your life to live the way you really want and have nothing to regret at the end of your life, you're more aware of the actions you need to put in place and less influenced by the momentary yet inevitable obstacles, cause :
"Those who have a 'why' to live can bear with almost any 'how'." (Viktor Frankl)
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So, dear friends, what will the most important people in your life say when you are gone? Start thinking about it... May God bless you! Take care.
Great. learnt a lot.
In the imagine part, i was so terrified of imagining the funeral of a loved one and i even avoided it, but when it said 'This is YOUR funeral' the pressur went back down. Why? i think i know why, i would like to have your opinion.