Now that I’m dead, I want to tell you a few things

Every letter on Dead Advice begins with the same first sentence: “Now that I’m dead, I want to tell you a few things.”

Now that I’m dead, I want to tell you a few things.

First of all, your feet are just not that interesting. Neither is the sidewalk. Look up. Pick up your feet as you walk, walk with a light step rather than scraping your shoes along as if they carried the weight of the world. Carry yourself with confidence, even if you don’t feel it. Shoulders should be level, not sloping. Keep your back straight and your head up. When someone walks by you look at them. They may not look back at you, many people won’t and some cultures even find it threatening. But, there is a confidence in walking in the world looking like you have a place in it.

You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to be kind and patient with everyone all the time. But, listen when people talk to you. Remember what they tell you. People will be more impressed if you remember some small thing they told you than if you remember their name. The little details are more personal than a name handed out freely.

Keep some mystery in your life. Have something you feel passionate about, something you are learning about and something which can stir your curiousity. Mystery, curiousity and passion are the real things of life. Food, shelter and the rest may be practical but life requires more than the practical things in order to open your eyes to the world each morning you wake up again.

One last thing, value your culture and your history. Culture may have to adapt to world changes but history should not – it is past and can only be changed by the people looking back at it, giving it new perspective.