DTH-X-0068
“I used the good stuff today instead of saving it for someday.”
The good bottle, the nice plates, the saved-up energy — you finally used them on an ordinary day, and nothing was wasted. We hoard our best things for a future occasion that mortality may never deliver. Today was special because you decided it was. That is the whole secret.
Your Practice
- Find one thing you've been 'saving' and use it this week, for no reason.
- Notice the small thought that says 'not yet' — that thought has cost you years.
- Treat a normal day as the occasion. You are alive on it; that is occasion enough.
- Keep nothing precious in reserve for a someday that isn't promised.
The Architects
“Do not act as if thou wert going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over thee. While thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good.”
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book IV (George Long translation; Internet Classics Archive, MIT)