What Would You Do If You Only Had 24 Hours Left to Live?
When I work with people to help them discover their purpose in life, one of the first assignments I give them is to imagine that they are going to die.
I tell them, “You are there in the body you have now, laying on your death bed. It’s beyond any doubt that death is impending any minute now. The doctors have all left the room, and there are only a few close friends and family around you. You know that you only have moments left to live, and then it's bye-bye for good.
How does that feel?
What do you know in that moment?”
There Was Truly Only One Thing I Wanted
The first time I did this exercise, I realized that all my heart wanted was to give. I just wanted to surrender myself to this magnanimous, benevolent, powerful, loving generosity that lives inside.
I would think “Well, it's been a fun ride! Farewell, everyone. I love you! I love you! I love you all…”
The urge to give of myself would then become so strong. Laying there, in the imaginary death bed, all I wanted to do was to give. It didn’t matter what, and it didn’t matter to who.
And I knew then that all my heart ever wanted was to give. In that state, I would give my left arm if I could. (Of course, that would be too violent, and I have too much love for myself to actually inflict violence on my body. But, nonetheless, the urge to give is so consuming that the thought of giving does go to that extreme extent).
And in that moment, I realized that the urge to give love was so powerful and so all-consuming that if I didn’t have the walls of my “ego” to hold me together, I would totally disintegrate into everything else. I realized the ego gives me a sense of individuality. It protects me from totally dissolving into that deep, powerful force of love.
And, in that way, the ego is quite beautiful. It protects me from giving myself totally away. It is a small little regulator that helps to keep me alive so that I remember to eat instead of giving away all my food. It helps me remember not to give away the very clothes on my back to the next person who walks in the room, so that I too can clothe myself and keep my body safe.
What a beautiful little trick nature designed.
“Make humans the most benevolent, loving creatures imaginable. And here’s a little safety feature called a sense of ego. That way, they don’t dissolve prematurely back into the sea of love that created them.”
“Oh, and give them total freedom. Each one of them can choose how much ego they want in their lives, and how much of this powerful love-force they want to let in.”
How simple. How perfect.
On my social media, I just started a contest where I ask people “If you had 24 hours left to live, what would you do?”. The best answer wins a prize.
I thought I would publish my answer here.
If I had 24 hours left to live, I would drive to the nearest forest with a nearby body of water. I would hike and spend time among the trees in the forest. I would swim in the water and spend a long time staring up at the sky. I would want to be alone in nature for a while.
And then I would invite all my family and friends to meet me, and we would all meet up, play music, sing, dance and have a bonfire. We would laugh and play, and if I’m lucky I might find a chance to sneak off to get laid.
I would rejoin the group and continue the celebrations well into the night until finally, the fire would die down, everyone would go home, and I would lay down to look at the starry night sky. Looking up at the brilliant night sky, I would slowly drift away, never to return…
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What do your last 24 hours look like? Find me on social media to submit your answer. The best one wins a prize!
