“The secret ingredient in allowing ourselves to begin again is compassion.”

— Sharon Salzberg

As we enter this season of rebirth, we naturally grow more attentive to what we may want to cultivate and grow. With this in mind, I recently read The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, a collection of the most common regrets of the dying, written by a palliative nurse. It’s not surprising to see what made the list, as they are all things that touch each of our lives as we struggle to pay attention to and make time for things that we truly love.

THE TOP FIVE REGRETS OF THE DYING:

"I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me."
“I wish I had let myself be happier.”
“I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.”
"I wish I spent more time with friends."
"I wish I had the courage to express my true feelings."

So while we imagine how to 'rebirth' ourselves — how to clean up our act, how to renew, how to cultivate true and meaningful abundance in our lives — remember the words of those as they were parting: they had wished, of all things, for more laughter, friends, family, and the ability to be our true selves. Let us find true abundance here.