By Jim Moret, beliefnet.com
For years, I seemed to have it all – a glamorous television career, a loving wife and kids, and a beautiful home. But overwhelming debt sent my life into a tailspin, and I began to think I was more valuable dead than alive. Like Jimmy Stewart in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” I imagined how my family and friends would cope without me. Consumed by a sense of hopelessness and despair, I almost took that final dark step.
One day I was driving on a desolate, narrow and windy road in the hills above Malibu. Despite getting my career back on track after joining Inside Edition, being out of work for a couple of years had brought mounting debt, and my sub-prime mortgage was about to reset at an unaffordable level. I suddenly had the darkest of thoughts – I could go over the edge of the cliff in my car and it would look like an accident. My family could collect the life insurance. The plan was so clear in my mind that it frightened me. I stopped the car right there. As I sat behind the wheel, I could clearly see that everything would NOT be okay at all. My death would cause my wife and our three children overwhelming grief and sadness.
Instead, I asked myself a simple question that changed my life completely and enabled me to reset my priorities: What would I do if I had only 24 hours to live? What would I be grateful for? What would I say to those I had hurt? Could I forgive the people who had hurt me? How would I define my legacy?
I made a list of the true measures of success, not in financial terms but in spiritual terms. I share with you the 10 secrets to a happy life that I discovered. They helped me restart my life, and I hope they will do the same for you.
Jim Moret is Chief Correspondent of the syndicated television news magazine Inside Edition and author of the inspirational memoir “The Last Day of My Life”( Phoenix Books). Jim adapting this from his book. For More information visit http://www.jimmoret.com.
