Change Your Life by Remembering Death

Take a moment and remember that one day you will die. Everyone you love and know will die. How does that make you feel?

Memento Mori, or “reminder of death,” is a powerful tool that can change your life. Most people's first response when they think of death is sadness, fear, or a sense of impending doom. This sense is one where nothing matters because we will one day die. Perhaps this is also the feeling that we are rushing through our lives and that time is coming to a close sooner than we would want. Yes, time is passing. Sure, you never get any more of it… but fear and sadness are only felt when you misinterpret the meaning that you should derive from this reminder.

Instead of fear and sadness, we should feel uplifted by the reminder that our time is scarce and that we can use the remaining time to live a fulfilled and complete life. Turn the negative first look at “I will die” into the positive alternative of “I'm not dead yet.” One must realize that, until you have passed on, there is still a chance to balance the books and right your wrongs, as long as you remember that there is a time limit.

Using memento mori in your own life is easy.

Pick a daily habit that will serve as your reminder of what's to come. Be it journaling, meditation, or just have “memento mori” written down where you will see it every day. Since I have written this post I’ve started wearing my grandfather's dog tags. We share the same name and have been said to be very similar, so it can serve two purposes. Wearing his necklace helps bring me closer to my past relative even though I never got the chance to meet him. This also serves as a daily or even moment to moment reminder that one day his fate will be mine and I too will face death.

This regular reflection of our mortality can be useful to keep us humble. How can you waste your time being angry, following useless pursuits, or fail to see some sort of bigger picture for your life? Remember, you’ll soon be dead.

“Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life’s account every day… One who daily puts the finishing touches on his life is never in want of time.” -Seneca

Remembering death daily or often is key. As Seneca points out, the man who puts the finishing touches on his life is never in need of more time. When you go to sleep, have you lived a complete, fulfilled life.? If not, what has to change?

Change

When you remember death you should be forced to change your priorities. How can you possibly waste your precious life? Set yourself some kind of goal for life, then take immediate and continued action to achieve your goals before you die. Instead of despair, you should be filled with hopefulness and gratitude that you have the time to finish what needs to be done before your life is up.

How would you live your life if you only had one month to live, or only one day? Think about your answer. Think about your answer every single day. Think about it when you wake up, when you go to sleep, and hopefully when you achieve the thing that is on your mind at all these times. Any day could be the last. Make every minute count.

“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.” -Marcus Aurelius

Regrets

It is easy to see how many people fail to grasp this concept when we look to the elderly and to people that die with regrets. Most people's regrets deal with the wasting of their life or living a life that other people chose for them. You can avoid these regrets by living your life, the life that you want to live, each and every single day of your life. Take action today, right now, live 100% according to how you feel your life should be lived. Only when we live our authentic life can we be free of the regrets of wasting our life or living someone else’s life.

Don’t let life happen to you. Instead live life like it's happening for you. You can’t just go through the motions, one day the motions won’t even be there anymore.

To be blunt, life is short. Death comes for all, and there is no reason to fear it as long as you understand that the “I’ll do it tomorrow” mindset is inexcusable. There is no tomorrow. Someday isn’t a day. Action only counts in the present. Take action now, start your passion projects, live your authentic and fulfilled life starting right now. But remember, Memento Mori.

Interesting Note: I was reminded of the fact that my life is only momentary not from any self-help book, article, or colleague, but from a gaming youtube video. Halfway through the video, the creator lost a couple of hours of footage and instead of becoming angry he moves on, saying

“I could be angry, in times like this I just remember that one day I will die and then I’m not angry about it anymore”

Move on, live your life, nothing is worth getting angry over because one day it will all be gone. Don’t waste your precious moments focused on the wrong things.

Don’t forget to clap, one day we’ll be dead.