The website TED is a one I enjoy visiting as often as I can. It features video talks by many different people on a variety of subjects. One talk I particularly enjoyed was by Ric Ellias Three things I learned while my plan crashed – http://www.ted.com/talks./ric_elias.html. He had a front row seat on Flight 1549 that crash landed in the Hudson River in January of 2009. He describes what went through his mind when he realized he might not survive. Here is the essence of what he said in his short, but profound talk

He experienced a big explosion and the plane filling with smoke and a banging sound. He could see
the pilot turn the plane around and line it up with the Hudson River followed by the engines quiting. The pilot simply said over the intercom “brace yourself for impact.”

Ric says he thought to himself “I will collect bad wines.” He was thinking of all the experiences he planned to have, but had put off for later, the fences he should have mended with people and the things he had put off. He decided if he survived he was going to drink the good wine now instead of saving it and do now what he should do instead of putting it off. He was not going to postpone things in his life that are important for a later time.

The second thing he regretted the time he had wasted on things that don’t matter. The things that didn’t matter in relationships with his wife, family and others. He decided to eliminate all of the negative energy in his life. No longer would he always want to be right, to waste time on the negative and unimportant.

As he saw the plane heading into the water, he hoped the plane would blow up, but he was prepared to die except he didn’t want to go. He wished he could see his kids grow up and he would be a great parent and spouse. He realized that was his only real purpose in life and to focus on those relationships was more important than anything else in his life.

He says his survival was a gift of a miracle of not dying hat day. He says he was given the gift of seeing the future and being given the opportunity of coming back ith a chance to do what he had learned.
He asked the audience “what would you get done that you have been waiting to get done because you think you will be here forever? How would you change your relationships and the negative energy in them? And more than anything are you being the best parent you can?”

I recommend you watch this short talk and ponder his questions. I know I found it very inspiring.