(Bronnie Ware's book is available on Kindle for 99 cents): She is hospice nurse who aids and comforts the dying, listens to their final words and holds their hands; she shares these five regrets of people at the threshhold:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This was the most common. People realized that life, whatever good health they had enjoyed, had given them freedom to pursue their dreams, honor their values, fulfill their destiny--and that they had, instead, made the choice to live a life defined by the expectations of others. At the end, when they knew there were no longer any possible choices, they regretted not choosing to be true to themselves.

2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard.

Very common observation. They had missed so much of life--real life--working to make a living at a job that had no fulfillment except a paycheck, trying to fit a week's worth of living into a single Saturday night. Learn to live with less stuff, more love.

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

Keep the peace at home; maintain a stoic facade at work. That is the norm expected of adults, and many expressed regret that, instead of being who they truly were, settled for mediocrity, not making waves, not seeing injustice and speaking out about it. Anger and resentment, suppressed, contributed to the diseases suffered by the dying.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

Friends are extended family; friends are the family you choose for yourself. Every dying person regretted not keeping closer contact with that extended family of friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Most people don't realize that being happy is a choice. This comes as a bitter realization to the dying--that they chould have chosen happiness over stress, over anger, over fear. Now, when it's too late, all they can choose is acceptance of the inevitable.

So, my dear friends, my message to you is to be true to yourself, express your feelings and ideas, keep in touch with your friends--and above all, choose to be happy.

Do it now.