As a parent, we all would you like our children to live a fulfilled, happy life without major regrets. In this context, I have come across an interesting article recently which speaks about the major regrets that dying people generally have.
I am pasting link to the original article here- https://www.inspirationandchai.com/Regrets-of-the-Dying.html
Those who have heard the knock of death wish to change so much about their lives if they are given another chance. The article talks about five common regrets of the dying.
- Almost everyone feels that they should have worked less madly and given more time to other meaningful pursuits.
- That they should have given enough time to their friends.
- That they should have allowed themselves more happiness.
- That they should have expressed themselves more freely on many occasions.
- That they should have kept away from the herd mentality (following the traditional norms).
These are all very important insights and we should definitely all take note, so we do not end up with deep regrets when it is time to go.
However, I beg to have a different take on this. I feel that life is a never-before experience. Someone has rightly said “Life is what happens when we are busy making other plans”. After all, we do not have any past lives to refer to. In absence of any rehearsal, we are bound to make mistakes in various events of life. This is why it might not be a great idea to rue our mistakes.
Actually, I have a small theory to why people start regretting a lot of things when death becomes imminent. Death is a bully. We try to live in denial of it before finally accepting it. However, we come across many emotions on the road to acceptance and regret is one such emotion. Here is an interesting thought: If somehow, the verdict of our death is reversed, won’t we keep living merrily the way we have lived thus far?
So, working further upon this theory, let us add a corollary: the beauty of life is that it allows us to make mistakes…correct them… leave them as they are…. move ahead…..stay with them. We can take our pick.
I think that there is limited gain in regretting our past. In fact it might not be too odd to state- If life is an occupation, mistakes are occupational hazards. We are imperfect by our birth and till our death we remain so. Is it a small achievement then that we manage to carve out a ‘whole life’ even with such imperfections?
What do you teach your children about living a fulfilled live?
