Meditate on Death to Live Boldly — Lessons from Steve Jobs

Meditating on death has much to teach us, if we can overcome the popular superstition that death is a depressing or morbid topic.

Contemplating death can liberate you from your myriad fears and make you bold.

Here’s a meditation on death by Steve Jobs:

“For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And 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 I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

None of us in truth own anything. We don’t own our clothes or our car. We don’t even own our house – we merely have a lease on it of an unknown duration.

Whatever you’re afraid of losing, death will soon take away. So why are you playing defence? Play offence.