None of us are guaranteed our next breath. We should all be living each day as if it were our last. This does not mean to live life recklessly but rather purposefully. You will always be filled and fulfilled when you truly appreciate and acknowledge your blessings. An attitude of gratitude is a stepping-stone towards success. Your thoughts, your words, and your actions are building blocks to creating the life that you want.
For as we know, simply being a human alive brings risks. Sometimes it is disease, sometimes accident, and sometimes deliberate violence, but we do not know what day will be our last and that is why it is so important to live life fully and joyfully.
But what would today look like if you truly lived it as if it were your last?
Would you get out of bed? Would you waste the time required to shower and shave? Would you brush your teeth? Would you go to work? Would you be concerned at all about paying my bills? For that matter, would you care about money at all? Would you spend the day getting your “things” in order: Last Will and Testament, etc.? Would you be concerned at all about the price of gas? Would you care about Health Care, or war, or poverty? Or our escalating debt and unemployment? Would you spend one last day managing everyone’s image of you? Would you do the one thing you’ve always wanted to do? Would you continue trying to understand everything and figure everything out? Would you finally meet your true self, and BE with yourself in loving peace and contentment?
Even though we are all aware of the imminence of death, you still have the power to dream. You look to the future for a day when you will one day achieve unrivaled greatness. Every day, you bring yourself closer and closer to your goal, every day you bring yourself closer and closer to greatness. With this mindset and decree, you don’t waste time on foolish endeavors which have no intrinsic value. Instead, you focus on a few select things, and you capitalize on them.
The benefits of having this new mindset are endless:
- You are fearless.
- You are more accomplished. You let go of all of the inessential things and you focus on what’s most important. And, along with that focus on importance, you also focus on accomplishment. Your sense of tomorrow makes it so that you don’t do anything today which you may regret later.
- You are more kind to others as you also realize that they may come to your aide one day if you really need it.
- You actually live longer because you are more cautious of what you put in your mouth.
- There is a great balance in work life, family life, and recreational life because you realize that all three are very important.
- You work where you love to work, you spend lots of time with family, and you plan out lots of moments to have fun because life is short.
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If someone loves you, love them back unconditionally, not only because they love you, but because they are teaching you to love and opening your heart and eyes to things you would have never seen or felt without them.
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Talk to people you have never talked to before, and actually listen, let yourself fall in love, break free and set your sights high. Tell yourself you are a great individual and believe in yourself.
Live life to the fullest. Enjoy every minute of the day. Do things that can make you happy. And always DO good things to others for you never know how long you will stay. Life is just borrowed, so we must live accordingly.
Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away that they were meant to be there, they serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson or help figure out who you are and who you want to become. You never know who these people may be: they can be your neighbor, child, long-lost friend, lover, or even complete stranger who, when you lock eyes with them, you know at that very moment that they will affect your life in some profound way. And sometimes things happen to you and at the time they seem painful and unfair, but in reflection you realize that without overcoming those obstacles you would have never realized your potential strength, will power, or heart.
Finally, I remember a scene from one of my favorite movies, City Slickers, when Jack Palance asks Billy Crystal, “Do you know what the secret of life is?” And he answers, “One thing. Just one thing.” Well, for me, the one thing is a happy, fun life with loving relationships. And now I am going to remember this one thing as I continue to live my life as if each day were my last. 
