Last week I wrote about accepting your own mortality and I introduced you to "The Mortality Manifesto". This is a powerful one-page document that I use as one of the guiding principles of my life. If you didn't read it last week, you can read it here.
I received some very interesting comments about The Mortality Manifesto and more than one of you wrote asking me to talk more about how to go about accepting your own mortality.
Here is one way to begin. Make sure you have some time when you won't be interrupted. Take a sheet of paper and write our your own obituary. Now, I am certainly not the first person to suggest this exercise, but I would like to introduce two new twists.
First, write your obituary as though you died at the age of 100. Be sure to consider the following points:
- What will you have accomplished?
- What will you be remembered for?
- Who will you leave behind?
- What will your legacy be?
Next, take a new sheet of paper and write your obituary as though you died tomorrow. Again, cover the same points:
- What will you have accomplished?
- What will you be remembered for?
- Who will you leave behind?
- What will your legacy be?
When you are done, I want you to re-read both obituaries and ask yourself if you are comfortable reading either of them?
What is the most difficult part about the gap between them? Is it the things that you won't be able to accomplish if you die tomorrow? Some part of your legacy that might go unrealized?
Now think about what steps you could take in your daily life to try to close the gap and ensure that you are more comfortable with tomorrow's obituary.
Since some of our reluctance to think about our own mortality comes from the sense of powerlessness that it brings, focusing on these empowering daily activities will allow us to regain some control and slowly come to terms with our mortality.
ENJOY NOW!
