From the book:

“Be brutally honest with yourself. Your time on earth is limited. Shouldn’t you start making the most of it? If you knew you had one month to live, you would look at everything from a different perspective. Many of the things you do now that seem so important would immediately become meaningless. You would have total clarity about what matters most, and you wouldn’t hesitate to be spontaneous and risk your heart. You wouldn’t wait until tomorrow to do what you need to do today. The way you lived that month would be the way you wished you had lived your whole life.

If you knew you had one month to live, your life would be radically transformed. But why do we wait until we’re diagnosed with cancer or we lose a loved one to accept this knowledge and allow it to free us? Don’t we want all that life has to offer? Don’t we want to fulfill the purpose for which we were created? Wouldn’t life be a lot more satisfying if we lived this way?

I’m challenging you to start living your life as though you have one month to live, and I’ve designed this book to help you. There are four universal principles in the one-month-to-live lifestyle: to live passionately, to love completely, to learn humbly, and to leave boldly. I’ve divided this book into four sections or “weeks” accordingly, and I encourage you to live these next thirty days as if they were your last.”

I find this book to be fascinating, thought-provoking and inspiring. Happy reading! What will you do with your one month?

Yes, we’re busy.  Certainly we have way too much to do and not enough time to do it in.  Of course we’re under stress and pressure.  Undoubtedly we’re exhausted and overwhelmed.  And? That’s life my friend.

If we step back for a minute, don’t we like something about our work?  We surely love the money and benefits we get from it if nothing else. Perhaps we even get satisfaction or recognition from it. If not, then at least it finances the rest of our lives.

We certainly value and love our children, family and friends.  They’re annoying at times, but funny and supportive at others. We may never know what to expect, but they add something of significance to our lives and keep us from being dull.

We can even the respect how tired we are. That usually means that we are contributing something to the world and hopefully accomplishing our goals and that feels good.

Contentment not a place you get to, but a place inside you that you can step into and experience at any time. It is quiet and busy, calming and energizing all at the same time.  It may be submerged under chores and worries, busyness and chaos, but if you look deep enough it’s there – I promise. You just have to look!

“You can shed tears that she is gone,

or you can smile because she has lived.

You can close your eyes and pray that she’ll come back,

or you can open your eyes and see all she’s left.

Your heart can be empty because you can’t see her,

or you can be full of the love you shared.

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,

or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

You can remember her only that she is gone,

or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.

You can cry and close your mind,

be empty and turn your back.

Or you can do what she’d want:

smile, open your eyes, love and go on.”

- David Harkin