Remembering What Matters Most
Whenever we experience loss, we naturally find ourselves contemplating our own impact on this world. If this were our last day, month or year on this earth, what would we be wishing we had done, seen, said or accomplished? What would we regret not trying?
Contemplative PRACTICES
There’s a practice that is quietly profound and deeply clarifying. It’s the practice of visualising yourself at the end of a very long life and noticing what rises to the surface.
It appears in Buddhist teachings as maranasati (mindfulness of death), in Tibetan practices focused on impermanence, and even in Stoic philosophy as memento mori.
Of course, you don’t have to follow any particular tradition to feel its impact.
This reflection isn’t about fear or morbidity; it’s about a truth that only emerges when everything unnecessary has fallen away.
The Tibetan Buddhist reflection called The Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind, prompts us to ask:
“What matters now?"
“What am I proud of?”
“What have I avoided?”
“What do I wish I’d given more energy to?”
This practice is often used in coaching as a way of revealing suppressed desires, unspoken truths and misaligned priorities.
When we close our eyes, take a few deep breaths and imagine ourselves at the end of a long life, what comes up might be:
A desire to spend more time creating
A call to stop shrinking, to speak up
to take the risk, to trust ourselves
To stop waiting for life to begin
It's a beautiful way to cut through illusion, ego and distraction, bringing our focus back to our values and to living authentically.
With love and light
Gwen x
