How can contemplating end of life affect your life right now, today?

Frank Ostaseski, a Buddhist teacher and Co-Founder of the Zen Hospice Project, is a wise teacher who helps bring death out into the open through mindful conversations. These conversations are at the root of wellbeing at end of life, as well as right now.

Over many years of compassionate conversations, he has distilled the wisdom of those actively dying into five “heart” lessons for living fully and without regret.

1. Don’t Wait. Every minute counts and everything is constantly changing.

2. Welcome Everything; Push Away Nothing. Cultivate fearless receptivity.

3. Bring Your Whole Self to the Experience. Wholeness does not mean perfection – it means no part left out.

4. Find a Place of Rest in the Middle of Things. Cultivate a quiet mind in the middle of things.

5. Cultivate “Don’t Know” Mind. We don’t abandon knowledge but we let go of control.

As I practice these five lessons, I actively transform my life. I want to be able to welcome death, when it arrives, knowing that I lived my life with integrity, focused on what matters most. That’s a healthy way to live and to die.