One Year to Live Workshops

Helped me to see what it is that really matters to me….I see now that what matters isn’t how I look or how the world sees me.

—Sue-Mani Lynch

It was very powerful to think about living by working at dying.

—Helen

The usefulness of the workshop is that it gives a certain urgency to some relationships.

—Frances

Just wanted to share with all of you what I did yesterday. I attended a workshop entitled "If I Had But One Year to Live." It was put on by one of my customers, and I really wanted to be there to support him. On a whim, I offered it as a Father's Day gift to my dad, who has Stage IV lung cancer, and asked him to go with me. He said Yes! I was going to go regardless, but I'm so glad that he came along!

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What I came out of this workshop with is a sense that all we ever have is a day at a time, and really only this very moment. How am I spending this moment? This moment? This moment? This moment? This moment?

Also, it finally sank in what all my friends have been telling me about doctor's statistics and prognosis. My new answer when someone asks me how long? "The bad news is he only has the rest of his life to live. The good news is, he has the rest of his life to live!

All the years I've tried to get my dad the perfect gift for Father's Day. All the tools and ties that were forgotten a minute later. This year I gave him an experience that I will never forget...which it turns out is a gift to me. When I asked him why he chose to come he said "Because my little kid that I love asked me, and I thought it would make her happy for me to go." Truer words were never spoken. Now that's a moment well lived!

—Anonymous Workshop Participant

[The workshop] helped me strip away layers of things, and get to what's the most important to me.

—Anonymous Workshop Participant