A dying person has a gamut of emotions at play. If it’s anger and not fear that is giving them a sleepless night, there are countless ways to manage it. Over 40 years ago, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a pioneer in near-death studies, identified anger as a natural emotion of a dying patient. Obviously, no one wants to die and leave the precious gift of life behind. It’s unfair, and people with terminal illness have every right to be angry. But they need to rise above these emotions. They can talk about their anger with a person they trust. Talk about it. Let everything out. And when the resentful thoughts are taken over by a feeling of calmness and peace, shut the door behind the angst forever.
The feelings of anger and fear are easy to cope with if a patient decides to involve their loved ones. But what about thoughts of guilt and regret? They are emotions that don’t easily leave a person’s mind as it’s something, where they don’t blame others, but themselves. For not caring much about the people they love, for not visiting their dream destination due to work or for not living the life they always thought they would. The list of regrets and guilt is endless.
Life coach Christine Hassler’s take on guilt and regret is something that anyone can apply in such a predicament. On her personal blog, she explains: “Let me break it down: something happens. You react, you make a choice, you take an action. Then … you take all this awareness and information that you have now and beat yourself up because you did not know it then … Please understand, you really truly did the best you could at the time! Trust me. And until you really take in this truth, you will stay stuck in regret.”It’s okay if an individual didn’t do what he intended to do earlier. They can still do those things today. Today is what they have with them; life is in the moment.
When days are numbered, a person values their life even more and wishes to do something that they always wanted to do—perhaps, write a book about someone they met when they were 30 or stand on a cliff and feel the sun on their face, or dive in the Great Barrier Reef or lunch at Le Cinq in Paris. There is life in every breath, especially when it is fleeting.