My heart continues to be sadden at the passing of Steve Jobs. Selfishly I feel sad that I don’t get to live vicariously through Steve anymore. I don’t get to hear one more inspiring speech from him, project my anger or love of the Apple product onto Steve, feel like I am somebody important because I know of the man and have opinions of how he should do things.

I also feel a little lost and not trusting that my world is going to be the same or OK. For some reason having had Steve at the reign of Apple, I felt assured that no matter what happens at the world level, I am still going to be OK, cause I can always retreat back into my iPhone and iPad. And that somehow some of my needs will be championed by this man. Christmas will still be cool because Steve is going to roll out my new toy. Now I am not sure. I am not sure if the “peeps” at that fruit store will be able to live up to the joy and delight that I have received for more than a decade.

I guess Steve’s passing is timely. When all of us are being called into our form of reinvention, I think Steve is being called to his ultimate form of reinvention. I wonder who or what he is going to be next? I wonder how God/Goddess/Universe is receiving him? “Good Job Steve! You have outdone yourself!” or “Wow, you really have poised the human race for its next evolution. You were moving them so fast, we had to take you out.” or “Heck you did great, but you were too controlling and demanding, so we thought you needed a break.” or “We thought you have done enough for Earth, and now we need you in a different galaxy, so…”

Either way, I want to add my voice to celebrate and mourn Steve’s reinvention process. “Steve, I hate to see you go. I thank you so much for showing us what’s possible as a human being. I wish you a lot of fun in your next iteration.”

Here is a selection of his thoughts on life:

We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent.
Because this is our life.
Life is brief, and then you die, you know?
And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives.
So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.
Be a yardstick of quality.
Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.

I want to put a ding in the universe.

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Jobs told the Wall Street Journal, “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”

Thank YOU, Steve.