I have been speaking and writing about the topic of mortality for nearly three years now. Encouraging people to acknowledge, accept and embrace their own death in order to tap into the Power of Mortality is the central theme of my keynote speeches, workshops and my new book.
Recently, a Mindful Moment subscriber sent me a newspaper clipping that had some incredibly insightful quotes on the subject of mortality. I felt as if the speaker was reading my mind. I was delighted to hear someone else championing the cause of embracing your own mortality!
Here was one of the quotes:
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking."
And another great quote is: "No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is Life's change agent."
You're probably trying to guess who made these statements.
Dr. Wayne Dyer? - No
Eckhart Tolle? - No
Deepak Chopra - No.
My friend, Dr. Bernie Siegel? - No
Before I tell you who said these things - let me give you a hint. The section of the newspaper that carried this story was the "Techweekly" section.
Surprised? I sure was. These comments were made by Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer and now CEO of Pixar Animation Studios, as part of a commencement address on June 12, 2005 at Stanford University.
A high powered corporate CEO talking about mortality? A "techie" talking about death? Amazing! It warms my heart!
This week, I want to leave you with one of the most powerful lines he delivered: "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool that I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important."
Thanks for spreading the word Steve!
ENJOY NOW!
