When making new year's resolutions, let the wisdom of the dying be your guide

Maybe your list of new year's resolutions should look more like your bucket list. Here's a suggestion: let the top five regrets of the dying be your guide for living the next year of your life.

Bronnie Ware worked in hospice for many years and she asked her patients, in the final weeks of their lives, if they had any regrets or would do anything differently. On her blog, she writes about the five most common themes that emerged: 1) I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. 2) I wish I didn't work so hard. 3) I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings. 4) I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. 5) I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Read Ware's full blog post HERE. Or order her book HERE.

Always go to the funeral

This beautiful essay from the "This I Believe" series on National Public Radio was first aired in 2005, but it's the most re-tweeted item I ever put on Twitter, so I am posting it here on my blog, too. Here's my favorite quote from Diedre Sullivan's essay about her father's advice to "always go to the funeral":

"'Always go to the funeral' means that I have to do the right thing when I really, really don't feel like it. I have to remind myself of it when I could make some small gesture, but I don't really have to and I definitely don't want to. I'm talking about those things that represent only inconvenience to me, but the world to the other guy. You know, the painfully under-attended birthday party. The hospital visit during happy hour. The Shiva call for one of my ex's uncles. In my humdrum life, the daily battle hasn't been good versus evil. It's hardly so epic. Most days, my real battle is doing good versus doing nothing." 

Read the full essay by clicking HERE.

Living in the present moment

Tony Winner Idina Menzel sings "No Day But Today" from the Broadway musical Rent. Based on Puccini's opera La Boheme, Rent is the story of a group of struggling young artists and musicians living on New York City's Lower East Side under the shadow of HIV/AIDS in 1989.

Christmas compassion

Joseph's House is a hospice for homeless people in Washington D.C.  NPR came to visit Joseph's House recently to see what it's like during Christmas time. Listen to the story.

Blessing for the longest night

United Methodist minister, artist and writer, Jan Richardson, was widowed this month and shared the following poem on her facebook page:

"I know lots of folks are having Longest Night or Blue Christmas services in the next few days. I am grateful for these and other spaces that acknowledge the shadows that are present for so many in this season. So thought I would share my 'Blessing for the Longest Night,' which has quite a different ring for me this year. Whatever your path is looking like in this season, may peace find you."

Blessing for the Longest Night
All throughout these months
as the shadows
have lengthened,
this blessing has been
gathering itself,
making ready,
preparing for
this night.

It has practiced
walking in the dark,
traveling with
its eyes closed,
feeling its way
by memory
by touch
by the pull of the moon
even as it wanes.

So believe me
when I tell you
this blessing will
reach you
even if you
have not light enough
to read it;
it will find you
even though you cannot
see it coming.

You will know
the moment of its
arriving
by your release
of the breath
you have held
so long;
a loosening
of the clenching
in your hands,
of the clutch
around your heart;
a thinning
of the darkness
that had drawn itself
around you.

This blessing
does not mean
to take the night away
but it knows
its hidden roads,
knows the resting spots
along the path,
knows what it means
to travel
in the company
of a friend.

So when
this blessing comes,
take its hand.
Get up.
Set out on the road
you cannot see.

This is the night
when you can trust
that any direction
you go,
you will be walking
toward the dawn.

© Jan Richardson. janrichardson.com

High school seniors take a class in hospice and learn lessons for life

From Mindful Magazine: "High school seniors at The Harley School in Rochester, New York, have the option of taking a class called “Hospice.” Most who sign up for it don’t know what they’re in for. And none of them forget the experience when it’s over." Watch the trailer (above) for David Marshall's documentary film about the hospice class.

Hospice volunteering is a privilege

Lynn Catley shares what hospice means to her.

Hospice volunteer Annette VanDeKreeke wrote in a letter to the editor: "It’s the same response every time – whenever someone finds out I’m a hospice volunteer, the first thing they say is, 'I could never do that; it would be too depressing.'

I usually smile and answer them with, 'You’d be surprised how much the opposite is true.' People who are involved in hospice know that every life comes with an expiration date – they witness it daily. It’s always sad when a soul passes from this world, and it sounds cliché but for some it is truly a blessing – an end to pain, loneliness, fear and worry.

I view hospice volunteering as an honor and a privilege. These clients and their families are going through possibly the toughest time in their lives and as a volunteer, you can help. Most often, I sit next to the bed and read to the client, or we listen to music together. Other times it’s as simple as gently holding their hand while they drift off to sleep, knowing they’re not alone." Read more...