Live in such a way that, if ~insert name of every single person you care about at all~ died tonight, you would not be overwhelmed by regrets.
My cousin, only two years older than me, lost his wife a couple of years back. I went to see him, because he was taken completely off guard, as this was only a brief illness and nobody expected it to be fatal, and he was devastated. During our visit, we talked about all kinds of things, but one thing in particular helped me shape my "no regrets" philosophy: he had a three foot pillar thing that was meant for display, and he had a plant sitting on it, dying. His eye landed on it, and he started to cry. First, he cried because he couldn't "even keep the plants alive without her", and second, because they had found the pillar while out shopping together, and she had wanted to get two of them. But he had laughed and said, "Where would we put two?" so they'd only gotten one, and now, he wished with all his heart he'd let her get two, or ten, or fifty.
That sort of thing, it seems like such a little thing.... until the one you love is gone. Until you cannot give to them any more. No, it's totally not rational, not logical; of course not, it's about *love*. So... be lavish in your love. Say it often, demonstrate it even more often, every way you can find, to every single person you love.
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Live in such a way that, if ~insert name of every single person you care about at all~ died tonight, you would not be overwhelmed by regrets.
My cousin, only two years older than me, lost his wife a couple of years back. I went to see him, because he was taken completely off guard, as this was only a brief illness and nobody expected it to be fatal, and he was devastated. During our visit, we talked about all kinds of things, but one thing in particular helped me shape my "no regrets" philosophy: he had a three foot pillar thing that was meant for display, and he had a plant sitting on it, dying. His eye landed on it, and he started to cry. First, he cried because he couldn't "even keep the plants alive without her", and second, because they had found the pillar while out shopping together, and she had wanted to get two of them. But he had laughed and said, "Where would we put two?" so they'd only gotten one, and now, he wished with all his heart he'd let her get two, or ten, or fifty.
That sort of thing, it seems like such a little thing.... until the one you love is gone. Until you cannot give to them any more. No, it's totally not rational, not logical; of course not, it's about *love*. So... be lavish in your love. Say it often, demonstrate it even more often, every way you can find, to every single person you love.
That's my story and i'm sticking with it.