As life marches on I find myself being focused on how I choose to spend my time. There are so many things that interest me and so many invitations come flying across the internet, but now more than at any other time in my  life, I feel the importance of choosing wisely. My earnest desire is to complete my journey here by fulfilling my purpose.

 Recently I was asked to present at a well being expo and thanks to some inspiration from my friend Ande Kindryd, my attention was drawn to the notion of having no regrets at the end of our journey.  Ande  and I discussed  this at length and came up with three sign posts to assist us in completing a journey free of regrets – Risk, Realness and Relationships. We were inspired by Bronnie Ware’s book, “Top five  regrets of the dying” in which she  recorded reflections she had heard as a nurse in a palliative care ward.

 At the last moment I felt inspired to ask three special people to join me in the presentation, David Laws, Julie Smith and my daughter Vicki Niemeyer. I loved having them add their insights to my own and  quite quickly, we  managed to put together a booklet called “Signposts to No Regrets”. It was unedited and there were a few typos, but for some reason I wanted to give people something they could take  away and the feedback has been very  positive.

 Two years ago now, I was excited when I was contacted by Hay House Australia about my book “Sizzling at Seventy – Victim to Victorious”. They were very affirming and although it was not taken up by  them at that time, I  was told that they were interested in me and to let them know of any other projects I undertook. I had almost forgotten this invitation when I had a dream that I should send off the  booklet to see if they thought it would be  worth my while in expanding on the idea. So, having nothing to lose I followed the ‘dream’ and sent it off and then completely let it go. I would never have done  that  years ago but it now seemed the right thing to do. Several  weeks later I was thrilled to receive a reply giving me a great deal of encouragement. So my next step is to undertake the Hay House on line  writing  course in order to test the market. I feel very positive about the whole  experience. Perhaps I will become a bona fide Hay House author one day!

 Several things happened that made it okay to invest money in this project. The day after I made my decision, I received a cheque from “Lending Rights” for $2,600.00 as some of my books are still in libraries which rather surprises me. Two days later I was notified that another $1,000 was due to me for copyright. My very first publishing experience, which I shared with a colleague, was in 1997, a book published by Longman and this was the book that is still being copied after all these years.

These experiences have made me reflect on how important it is not to underestimate the footprints we make through our life – some of which leave a lasting impression. Some of these footprints we are proud of and others we would rather forget.

I love the fact that I am continually learning and growing. I was devastated by the death of my much loved husband but also feel blessed to have witnessed the passing of someone who died without regrets. We are all going to go through this process and I have always felt that it should be a dignified and peaceful one. I have no fear of death and I am sure I am not alone in thinking that living is often the hard part. These words by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross really resonate, “It is not the end of the physical body that should worry us. Rather, our concern must be to live while we’re alive – to release our inner selves from the spiritual death that comes from living behind a façade designed to conform to external definitions of who and what we are.”

This is now my journey, to assist others to follow the signposts to “No Regrets.”