I am big on the future.
I put a lot of store in the days to come, often sacrificing today’s time and money to reap a reward later.
But sometimes, I can simply store for later with no clear purpose.
“Better get the work done now so it doesn’t pile up later—that holiday can wait.”
We all know—if you’re like me though, will seldom acknowledge—that the work will always pile up the way the grass springs up for the poor fellow in Dr. Seuss’s book Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?
“The faster he mows it the faster he grows it.”
So I was intrigued when I listened to Meditations
by Marcus Aurelius and heard this:
No one loses more than another when they die, for all anyone loses is today, this present moment.”
All of these things we think we live for—house, car, career, clothes, money—things that some of us would even die for, just don’t matter at the end of the day.
As Aurelius figured out some 2,000 years ago, we can’t take ANY of these things with us when we die.
Which means that we have only this present moment.
This very second.
That’s it.
So the big question:
If you could lose nothing because you have nothing but this present moment, what do you do to make this present moment the best moment of your life?
Do you pour yourself into your passion?
Do you take a step toward fulfilling your life purpose?
Do you take an extra minute to connect, really connect, with your spouse?
Do you make a stranger smile?
Do you call a friend?
Do you hug and kiss your child(ren) at least one more time?
What do you do? All you have is this present moment.
Make it count.
