At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.

Washington Post: When Breath Becomes Air’: Young doctor’s last words of wisdom, hope

What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.

Today on the Mindset Transformation radio show and podcast, I would like to take you on a journey into living!

How to live before you die

I ask the question “What makes a virtuous and meaningful life for you?"

Psychologists says that in order to live a virtuous and meaningful life, you should have balance in these 7 areas:

1. You should have A fulfilling career - i.e. You are doing what you love.

2. You should and must have a relationship with a higher power, God.

3. You must be fruitful and multiply.

4. You should offer Service to your community.

5. You must have effective time management and stress reduction.

6. You must get quality sleep, adequate exercise and proper nutrition.

7. You should spend quality time with loved one’s friends and family.

A Fulfilling career

Most people don't do what they love, they work to live; so they live to work!

I saw a viral picture a few weeks back on Instagram that made me chuckle

It was a picture of a man crying with the caption:

So how do you find your passion, work in your passion or work on your passion?

You have to Listen to your soul.

If you are dreading going to work, hate it all the time you are there, and you are not serving or making a difference in the lives of others, then quit.

Step out on faith.

Faith, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.

Believe that God will fund your purpose, if it is his will.

On the road to Damascus, Saul encountered Christ in a memorable experience that left him temporally blind. Immediately he started to undergo a major transformation of his whole life and character, including a total reorientation of his world view. Following this he was commissioned into service as an apostle to the Gentiles. Paul’s story highlights the 3 dynamics of a meaningful life.

The relational, the transformational, and the vocational. We must not choose one and neglect the others.

The relational experiences in a meaningful life results in openness to others, healing progress towards Christlikeness and participation in God’s purposes in the world.

The Transformational concerns how we transform after being touched by God and the Holy Spirit. Just as all Saul’s beliefs,