![How Being Faced with Death Changes our Priorities in Life [Excerpt]](https://movemequotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/IMG_5862-930x620.jpg)
Excerpt: The following is an excerpt from Steven Pressfield’s book, The War of Art that talks about the profound shift that takes place in a person’s psyche when they’re faced with death.
If tomorrow starts without me, and I’m not here to see,
If the sun should rise you find your eyes all filled with tears for me
I wish so much you wouldn’t cry the way you did today,
While thinking of the many things we didn’t get to say.
I know how much you love me, as much as I love you
And each time that you think of me, I know you’ll miss me too.
But when tomorrow starts without me please try to understand,
That an angel came and called my name and took me by the hand.
He said my place was ready, in heaven far above
And that I’d have to leave behind all those I dearly love.
But as I turned and walked away a tear fell from my eye.
For all my life I’d always thought, I didn’t want to die.
I had so much to live for, so much left yet to do.
It seemed almost impossible that I was leaving you.
I thought of all the yesterdays the good ones and the bad.
I thought of all the love we shared, and all the fun we had.
If I could relive yesterday, just even for a while,
I’d say goodbye and kiss you and maybe see you smile.
But then I fully realized that this could never be,
For emptiness and memories would take the place of me.
When I thought of worldly things I might miss come tomorrow
I thought of you and when I did my heart was filled with sorrow.
When I walked through heavens gates I felt so much at home.
God looked down and smiled at me from his great golden throne
He said, “This is eternity and all I’ve promised you”
Today your life on earth has passed but here life starts anew.
I promise no tomorrow, but today will always last
And since each day is the same there’s no longing for the past.
You have been so faithful so trusting and so true.
Though there were times you did some things you knew you shouldn’t do.
You have been forgiven and now at last you’re free.
So won’t you come and take my hand and share my life with me?
So when tomorrow starts with out me don’t think we’re far apart,
For every time you think of me, I’m right here in your heart.
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Watch ‘If Tomorrow Starts Without Me…’ on Vimeo
“Remember you will die. Maybe even today. Don’t forget that. Don’t forget to be thankful for your health. For the ability to walk. For the time you get to spend with the person you love. For your siblings. For whatever it is that you have today. It’s not yours, it can be stolen away at any moment. So while you have it on loan, cherish it.” ~ Nick Crocker, Medium
Excerpt: At the end of life, the last thing you want to have is regrets. Learn from those who came before and read the top 5 regrets of the dying.
I am standing on the seashore.
A ship appears
and spreads her white sails
to the morning breeze
and starts for the ocean.
She is an object of beauty
and I stand watching her
till at last she fades away on the horizon,
and someone at my side quietly says,
“She is gone.” Gone where?
Gone from my vision, that is all;
she is just as large as when I saw her last.
The diminished size
and the total loss of sight
is in me, not in her;
and just at the moment
when someone at my side says,
“She is gone,”
There are others who are watching
her coming and other voices
take up a joyful shout,
“There she comes!”
Author Unkown
—— —— ——
Source: Today Matters by John C. Maxwell
“I reassured my mother that it didn’t matter to me if my face was not symmetrical. Me, who had always cared about my appearance, how my hair looked! But when you see death, things change. ‘It doesn’t matter if I can’t smile or blink properly,” I told her. ‘I’m still me, Malala. The important thing is God has given me my life.’” ~ Malala Yousafzai, I Am Malala
“You may be 38 years old, as I happen to be. And one day, some great opportunity stands before you and calls you to stand up for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause. And you refuse to do it because you are afraid…. You refuse to do it because you want to live longer…. You’re afraid that you will lose your job, or you are afraid that you will be criticized or that you will lose your popularity, or you’re afraid that somebody will stab you, or shoot at you or bomb your house; so you refuse to take the stand. Well, you may go on and live until you are 90, but you’re just as dead at 38 as you would be at 90. And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.
“If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. Every now and then I wonder what I want them to say…I’d like somebody to mention that day, that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I’d like for somebody to say that day, that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody. I want you to say that day, that I tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say, on that day, that I did try, in my life, to visit those who were in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr., “The Drum Major Instinct” (1968)
Excerpt: How one grief-stricken women was able to recreate her life after the death of a loved one.
Excerpt: Just take a minute and give this short story about supporting those near death a read. It’ll give you chills and maybe even jerk a few tears.
Author Unknown
