“If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I’m about to do today? Whenever the answer has been “no” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool that I’ve encountered to make the big choices in life.”

-DM

Steve Jobs was bold, innovative and insightful, perhaps no where more so than in his decision to share his confrontation with his own mortality with the rest of the world. It strikes me that he modelled something key for us: namely, that dying is not the polar opposite of living but part of it. Steve Jobs had been dying since 2005–one of the many in our world having to cope with being “chronic terminal”. All those years he was dying he was also living: working, playing, creating, sharing.

When dying and living overlap as they did for him for 6 years, the opportunities for reflection and learning are great for those who claim them. It seems that Steve did and that is something we can take from him now and as we continue to live our days. He dared to talk about death, to make himself vulnerable before us. If more of us could do that, we’d be so much better off.

Linda Watson
http://talkaboutdeath.net