For the last few decades, the idea has been swirling about that the average adult has 50,000-70,000 thoughts a day running through our heads. For some of us, it may be even more. I would venture that my brain chatters at the high end of that estimate. We do have the capacity to slow them down and let them flow rather than scatter them wildly to the winds. As I am in the middle of the fifth decade of this incarnation and having faced the potential end of it nearly six months ago, my mind has been on mortality. Not ready to leap into the unknown just yet, but I ponder what it might look like. In my role as a workshop facilitator, I have taught on the topic of loss and grief. One exercise I have participants do is to write their own eulogy. How we want to be remembered is about what we can do NOW so that we leave a positive legacy; not so that we can be glorified. Some of them are humorous, others intention setting. Some are about their relationships with loved ones, others are about adventures not yet taken.

It occurred to me today that I used to spend too much time worrying and pondering how I could make life a grander adventure than it already was. I fretted over what I couldn’t accomplish and how I might let others down if that was the case. I stressed over ways to help clients live more healthfully, while squeezing my own life to pulp. Once the heart attack happened, I decided to change the nature and vibration of my thoughts. The funny thing is, most people I know believed I was always doing that. I reminded them that sometimes even the Bliss Mistress gets the blues and needs an attitude adjustment.  While traversing snowy roads in beautiful Bucks County, PA, I asked myself this pertinent question:  What do I want my very last thought to be?  I decided right there and then, that I want it to be about love and gratitude for a full rich life, surrounded by amazing people who I treasure. Since we really don’t know when we will take our last breath, I figured that I ought to make those my prevailing thoughts anyway. I have learned to shift gears, up level my thoughts, re-frame as need be.

Here are some final words supposedly uttered by famous folk:

Is everybody happy? I want everybody to be happy. I know I’m happy.
~~ Ethel Barrymore, actress, d. June 18, 1959

Now comes the mystery.
~~ Henry Ward Beecher, evangelist, d. March 8, 1887

Friends applaud, the comedy is finished.
~~ Ludwig van Beethoven, composer, d. March 26, 1827

That was the best ice-cream soda I ever tasted.
~~ Lou Costello, comedian, d. March 3, 1959

What do you want your last thoughts to be?