By Kathy A. Megyeri
Book review: “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departed,” by Bronnie Ware
Author, songwriter, and inspirational speaker Bronnie Ware lives in New South Wales, Australia and after working in palliative care tending to the needs of the dying, her life was transformed when she wrote a blog post about the most common regrets that the people she had cared for had expressed to her.
The blog quickly gained so much momentum that it was viewed by more than 3 million readers worldwide in its first year. By applying the lessons she learned to her own life, she developed an understanding that it is possible for everyone if they make conscious choices to die with peace of mind. She expresses the significance of those dying regrets and explains how we can address such issues positively while we still have the time.
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Living regret free is an ongoing day-to-day process of conscious decision-making, loving actions to ourselves and embracing the courage to change. The importance of the message resonates with all because none of us wishes to die with regrets. In our hearts, we want to live our best lives and be our best selves.
As Ware writes, “Finding the courage to change, act or surrender will never be as painful as lying on a death bed with regrets.” The titular five regrets appear again and again: having the courage to be true to oneself and not living as others expect us to; not working so hard; expressing our true feelings; staying in touch with friends; and genuinely pursuing our own happiness, a matter of perspective and based more on choice than circumstance. Those dying regrets are simply stated but take true determination to accomplish.
For Bronnie, banishing regrets means embracing the discipline of meditation, learning how to be kind to herself and receiving kindness from others, moving to a setting that surrounded her with beauty, realizing her own worth and beauty, letting go of the need for validation through ownership or the expectations of others, taking risks, forgiving herself for errors and judgements she’d made and the determination to live in the present, because our life is our own.
With life over so quickly, we have to live it right, but the choice is ours. As reader Jonathan de Magalhaes says, “The impact of this book is life changing. You’ll become a better person after reading [it].”
The book is available in 32 languages, has been read by more than a million people worldwide and became a worldwide bestseller and is in the planning stages for a movie.
