Palliative care experts on what the dying can teach us about how to live – their biggest regrets are not being genuine and hesitating to live a more fulfilling life

Live a life that’s true to yourself, find more joy and say what you really feel are among the lessons a live-in carer learned from her terminally ill patients

A Buddhist teacher and hospice founder says the dying teach us to be open and curious and to seize the chance of fulfilment, not wait for a better tomorrow

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Don’t wait until you are dying to realise you should live life to the full – that’s one of the insights learned from two people’s experience in palliative care. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 8:45pm, 4 Oct 2021

Our brains are wired not to dwell upon our own mortality, which is a good thing. That allows us to carry on without worrying about how and when the end may arrive.

But there is some value in acknowledging our inevitable death, bestselling author and motivational speaker Bronnie Ware says. It gives us the chance to find greater purpose and satisfaction in the time we have remaining.

This insight developed during Ware’s eight years working in palliative care, as a live-in carer for terminally ill patients. Through conversations with people at death’s door, she realised that the regrets they expressed as they looked back on their lives were surprisingly similar despite the differences in their life experiences.

Anyone can apply the lessons Ware learned from those nearing death, if they are willing to make conscious choices while they still have the time.

Bronnie Ware, author of The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.

Ware was inspired to change her own life and pursue her desires to travel, sing and give back to the community, leaving a career in banking and overcoming her fear to perform in bars.