When we are forced to think about the end of our lives, we get nervous. We would rather think about anything else. But, you would be surprised at how our thinking will change when we are facing the end of our life. Here are 5 end of life lessons from experts.

 

5 End of Life Lessons

 

Healthy people often focus on all the details in their busy lives and lose the ability to put things in perspective. You need to adopt different attitudes and values that people who are dying have. This can make your life better.

1. Adjust Your Priorities

It’s easy to take your friends and family for granted when you are busy. It seems like everything else comes first. Remember to stop and appreciate any meaningful relationships you have.

2. Make Time for Loved Ones

Again, when you are busy, you can forget to make time for those who are close to you. If you make them most important, you will show that you care. It will also make you feel less stressed out.

3. Have Meaningful Conversations

Having emotional talks is hard. It’s the last thing we want to do sometimes.

You may not like to apologize, look for forgiveness, or give feelings of love or thankfulness often. It’s awkward and makes you vulnerable.

Or maybe you think the people you love already know how you feel.

It’s good to have these conversations though. It can make you feel closer to those around you.

4. Don’t Hesitate to Share Deep Feelings

Like with meaningful conversations, we don’t often share any deep feelings that we have either. In fact, many families don’t talk about feelings unless something bad happened.

If someone you love died and you didn’t share how you feel, you would be filled with regret.

But, if you do share your feelings, especially before someone’s passing, it will bring you closer to them.

5. Prepare for the Worst

It’s always good to be prepared. This means having all the proper documentation that’s needed for your passing.

This can mean electing someone to make medical decisions for you if you aren’t able to do it yourself. Or sign “do not resuscitate” paperwork.

It’s hard to do, but ultimately it helps your loved ones. It makes them less stressed and they know what you want. They don’t have to guess.

Read more here.

People think that the elderly don’t have any lessons to give, but they’re wrong. Author, John Leland interviewed seniors in his book Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons From a Year Among the Oldest Old. Here are 5 life lessons from the book that the oldest seniors around gave.

5 Life Lessons From the Oldest Seniors

 

Here are a few simple things you can do to enhance your life as you get older.

1. Don’t Let Age Define You

The seniors in this book defy cliches and expectations. These people ranging from 87 to 92, are full fledge people with their own personalities.

They are mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends, wives, and husbands. Age doesn’t change them. It’s not a problem to be fixed. It’s a stage of life like anything else.

2. Still Set Personal Goals

Just because you get older doesn’t mean that you have to stop being ambitious. Whether it’s personal or for something more professional, setting goals will keep you strong.

It can even be as small as finding something that makes you happy everyday.

3. Focus on What You Can Do

It’s easy to get stuck in a downward spiral of all the things you’ve lost. Leland found that in this age group, people who do things that interest them have the most satisfaction.

They focus on what they can do instead of what they can’t.

4.  Be Adaptable

Don’t let a change of circumstance limit your life. Just because one thing changes, doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world.

For example, someone who has a hard time moving around, may decide to use a wheelchair. While some may think this is restrictive, it opens up their world. They can go more places and be comfortable.

5. Embrace the Changes in Your Life

Change is hard, and as much as we want to pretend we have control, we don’t. For some people who are older, their roles will change. They might be getting help from their kids, instead of the other way around.

This isn’t a bad thing though. You can still be emotionally supportive of those who are helping you physically.

Read more about these lessons here.

Bronnie Ware, an Australian nurse, helps take care of people the last few months of their lives. She started to notice a pattern with the regrets her patients had, so she decided to start recording them. Here are the top 5 regrets of the dying, that she has seen. Maybe we can all learn something from them.

Top 5 Regrets of the Dying

 

The first is not living the life they wanted, instead living the life that was expected of them. It’s easy to look back at your life and see all the things that you didn’t do. It’s hard to realize that there isn’t time to go and do those things.

The second regret is that people wished they hadn’t worked so much. This particular regret came from every male patient that Ware had, while some women mentioned it, they were not the breadwinner of the family. Many of the men missed their partner’s presence and their kids growing up.

Third, is that wish they could have expressed their emotions more. Whether they were afraid of getting hurt, or trying to keep the peace they shoved their feelings down.

The fourth regret is that they wished they saw their friends more.

The fifth, and final, regret is that they wish they had let themselves be happier.

Check out the whole article here.