19100 ways
1. Get on your deathbed 100 Ways
A number of years ago when I was working with psy-
chotherapist Devers Branden, she put me through her
“deathbed” exercise.
I was asked to clearly imagine myself lying on my
own deathbed, and to fully realize the feelings connected
with dying and saying good-bye. Then she asked me to
mentally invite the people in my life who were impor-
tant to me to visit my bedside, one at a time. As I visual-
ized each friend and relative coming in to visit me, I
had to speak to them out loud. I had to say to them what
I wanted them to know as I was dying.
As I spoke to each person, I could feel my voice break-
ing. Somehow I couldn’t help breaking down. My eyes
were filled with tears. I experienced such a sense of
loss. It was not my own life I was mourning; it was the
love I was losing. To be more exact, it was a communica-
tion of love that had never been there.
During this difficult exercise, I really got to see how
much I’d left out of my life. How many wonderful feel-
ings I had about my children, for example, that I’d never
explicitly expressed.
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