Introduction

AT FIRST GLANCE THIS EXERCISE, in which you imagine yourself on your deathbed, seems morbid. But it can also be clarifying. When you imagine yourself dying and ask: “What should I have done?” you begin to see why it is so effective. Sometimes, we make a choice that is easier now but which we know we will regret in the long term. The old saying that no one on his deathbed ever said, “I wish I had spent more time at the office,” captures some of this insight.

Scripture

“Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered—how fleeting my life is” (Psalm 39:4).

Exercise

Imagine that you are dying… You are bedridden…  Where are you?… Take a good look at your surroundings… What kind of a life are you leading now?…  How do you spend your day?…

Imagine it is evening and you are left alone…  How do you feel about the fact that you do not have much longer to live?…  that you can no longer be active?…

In the solitude that is now yours look back on your life…  Recall some happy moments…

Recall some of the sad moments…  What do you feel now as you look back on them from the perspective of death?…

Recall some of the important decisions that you made, decisions that affected your life or the lives of others.  Are you pleased or sorry you made them?… Are there decisions you feel you ought to have made and did not?…

Spend some time now remembering the significant people in your life…  What faces come most readily to your mind?… What do you feel as you think of each of these persons?…

If you had to give just one piece of advice to your friends or say just one sentence to them in farewell what would you say?…

After a while turn to Christ.  Imagine him standing at your bedside and speak to him…

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[1] Anthony de Mello, Sadhana— a way to God.