The Myth of Tomorrow

I'm glad some of you were inspired by Steve Job's speech at Stanford.

Let me quote him: "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life."

A day after reading this, I was in Queenstown Library and spent an afternoon with "The Myth of Tomorrow."

Like Jobs, Buffone argues about the importance of thinking about death. As a psychologist, he works with hundreds of people who came close to death but survived. In the face of such "urgent experiences", death becomes the ultimate wake-up call. Changes occur almost overnight for these death-survivors including:

1) A rearrangement of life's priorities
2) an enhanced sense of living in the present
3) deeper communication with loved ones
4) a greater appreciation for the fragility and preciousness of life
5) fewer interpersonal fears and a greater willingness to take risks

Basically, Buffone is saying that if we confront the idea of dying and realise its imminence, we will be inspired not to take things for granted, take hold of today and do the things that really matter, instead of waiting for tomorrow.

Tomorrow is a myth.