The Spiritual Perspective 24: Bronnie Ware on How She Discovered the Top 5 Regrets of the Dying
“I wish I hadn't worked so hard. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends” – these are some of the words Bronnie Ware realized kept coming up over and over again from those she cared for. Bronnie is today’s guest, a former palliative nurse who took these words and wrote an article in 2009 called The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.
Little did she know, it would go viral, being viewed over 8 million times and helping to change the way that many people now think about death. Bronnie had a very interesting journey. She grew up in rural Australia, where she was the lone vegetarian in a meat-eating family. She tried the regular job thing, but it just wasn't working for her, so she quit her job and she started nomading, which how she found her way into palliative care.
One woman who gave her room and board ended up passing on, and palliative care means looking after dying patients in the last 3 to 12 weeks before their transition. As it turned out, Bronnie was a natural at helping people transition. Her goal was to treat everyone that she looked after like they were her grandmother.
In the process, she observed how much people grow when faced with their own mortality and how each person experiences a variety of emotions, such as denial, and fear, and anger, and remorse, and then more denial, and then eventually, acceptance.
In this episode, Bronnie shares a bit about her personal life and background, the genesis of her palliative work and how the top five regrets came to be, what she believes people connected with from this story, and what she means when she says smile and know, among a whole host of other stories from her life and experience. Tune in today to find out more!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Bronnie talks about her childhood and her favorite activity, hanging out with her dog, Priny.
- How Bronnie has communicated through writing, since writing to pen pals across the world.
- Why Bronnie became a vegetarian after hearing animals die on her childhood farm.
- Bronnie describes her dad’s occupation as a musician and her relationship to his work.
- What Bronnie wanted to be when she grew up and how she found her way to music herself.
- Turning away from a path to self-destruction through drug abuse and a career in banking.
- A bookstore called The Inspiration Factory and the role it played in Bronnie’s transformation.
- Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain and how it helped Bronnie realize she’s creative.
- Why Bronnie lied on her CV when she was desperate for work and why she would do it again.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
The Top Five Regrets of the Dying