In 2012, a former palliative caregiver published The Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing. The book is still selling extremely well, and not just from the New Age & Spirituality shelf. Perhaps the regrets most frequently expressed in her presence are somewhat universal; that might help explain the book's enduring popularity. Here they are: 
 
1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. 

2. I wish I didn't work so hard.

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

“Life is a choice,” the author has said. "It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.”
 
So that’s what it’s all about?

But what if she and her readers are missing the elephant in the living room?

What if regrets such as these change dramatically one minute after death?

Too bad we can’t ask the philosophers who contributed to this list. 

Oh, but wait: we do have the testimony of the rich man in Luke 16:19-31. His priorities certainly underwent a radical transformation after he'd left this life behind.
 
Wonder what would happen if someone made it a point to read Luke 16:19-31 to the dying before they "slipped the surly bonds of earth"? Might they be a little less interested in the relative happiness of their lives, and a little more interested in where they'll be spending eternity?