This is our final post on lessons for life from the book.
“Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us about the Mysteries of Life and Living”
These are the key messages I took from the book and provide quick help when you’re pushed for time.
Lessons for life
Anger
- Anger is natural except when it is suppressed
- Anger creates action
- Anger tells us when we have not dealt with our hurt
- Generally there is another emotion behind our anger
- Have a safe space to let out anger
Happiness
- Happiness is a natural state- it depends on our perception
- Happy people are the least self-absorbed and self-centred
- Don’t focus on “shoulds” if you want to be happy. I “should” have done this, I “should“have done that
- Life is long, but time is short
- Change how you react to situations that make you feel bad about your life
- There is no good without the bad- e.g. There can be no mountains without the valleys
- In the ordinary, find the special
Play
- Playing keeps us young, passionate and helps relationships to thrive
- Playing is to live life to its fullest
- Playing improves our mental health in the same way that physical exercise does
- Strive to get the work out of fun- if it’s fun it’s not work.
- Watch out and don’t turn play into productivity – it must be enjoyed to be play
- Every experience is rich with the possibilities for magic.
Patience
- Accept you don’t always get what you want
- The ability to delay gratification is important
- Learn to live with a situation as it is- not as you would like it to be
- Each life experience comes when you are ready
- Need to exercise the patience muscle- think about being patient
- Develop a faith or belief that healing is always at work – even if you can’t feel it
- Don’t always try to fix things
- Have hope
Surrender
- Think of life as a roller coaster- ride don’t drive
- Use the Roller Coaster image when you’re exhausted from trying to control
- Don’t fight the unfightable – let go
- Turn into a situation not away
- Use the serenity prayer first written by American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr made famous by AA
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference”
Forgiveness
- Forgiveness heals our hurt and wounds
- Forgiveness restores us to a place of grace
- Non forgiveness keeps us stuck- a perpetual victim
- Forgive yourself
- We are here to make mistakes
From me, I’d add forgiveness is for yourself, for your own piece of mind. It does not mean you forget what happened or put yourself back in a position where the same hurt can happen again.
So that’s it- our lessons for life summary of a really useful book. Hope you found it helpful. You can find the first post in the series here and the second post here.
