A day - 24 hours - I'm sure we've discovered, is not a long time. Hours seem to pass by, depending on what we're doing, like they were nothing at all. Just brief moments. And we only have 24 of them! Not to mention that 5-8 of them are spend on sleep and another 8-12 of them are spent on work. There's time with family and people. Then there's cooking, cleaning, hygiene, and a smattering of other responsibilities. Not a lot of time for much else. Not a lot of time for ourselves.
When we look at the gigantic ocean that is life from the perspective of one day's happenings, one days successes or one day's misfortunes, it's only natural to get depressed at life's mundaneness, despair at the idea that all we'll ever do is work, or get so hyped up about future opportunities that we all we do is "Go! Go! Go!" and we can hardly sit still.
But that's just it. Why are we measuring the breadth of our lives by just one tick on the ruler? Why are we guessing at the events of tomorrow, next, week, or next year when we're only halfway through Monday? I'm not saying that it's bad to make plans or goals for the future, or that the rough events of today aren't something we should try to overcome. But it's a foolish, self-inflicted burden we place on ourselves when we view the whole of life in single moment. We've got to remember this:
Today is all we have.
None of us are ever guaranteed tomorrow. I'm not trying to sound mystical or fatalistic. It's just a simple truth and reality that we really don't know that we'll wake up the next morning. We freak out about tomorrow's problems or groan at another sluggish day because we define it by what's happening within the moment, and by today's circumstances. Why do we do that ourselves? I think that a common mistake we all make is that we try to apply yesterday's principles to tomorrow's problems. Sure, that might work sometimes, but not always. No day is exactly the same. It may have minuscule or massive similarities, but never exactly, event for event, the same day. The only place that happens is on the Twilight Zone. So why are we trying to do it? It borders the manifestation of insanity.
Every day is a new creature, as it were. It has a whole new set of events, happenings, quirks, and is a whole new set of potential successes or failures. It is, more or less, a blank slate. This way of thinking, I understand, does not come naturally. We're either taught to think this way or begin to over time.
I'm not saying the problems of yesterday won't still be there, or that the successes we had yesterday don't count for anything. Certain kinds of consequences undoubtably carry over in life and we may have to deal with them for the rest of our lives. But these things aren't what define us. Life is what we do with those consequences. It's what we do after those victories and how we react to those misfortunes. It's how we choose to look at people in our lives and what we do in our relationships. There may be certain things that we're holding on to that are haunting our perspective: failures, unkind words and criticisms, past mistakes... These are screens that cloud our vision and steal away our motivation. With these things weighing on our minds, how can we ever expect to see, clearly, our potential day by day?
If it's what we do that defines how we look at and live out our lives, then that means we have a whole new facet of life to consider. It's been said, "Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it." One day is what you make it, who you choose be in your dealings and relationships. And when you string them all together, what is life, but a series of days? Therefore, and you've heard this said before, I'm sure... "Life is what you make it." I'm not sure what kind of hand you've been dealt in life.... Maybe you've had it very, very, very rough most of your life, and every day you're living is a certain kind of hell. That is definitely hard, and I understand life is and can be very complicated...
Or maybe life couldn't be better...you have a good job, a nice home, a wonderful family and a great group of friends. You feel like nothing could ever go wrong. I say to you: be wary. Appreciate what you have, cherish, and protect it. Life can change at the drop of a dime.
Either way, in any scenario, we choose what we do with our days. There are a dozen things that may come at us that we cannot control, but in the small moments, our choices can define how we live out each day. I'm not saying that it's not and that it won't be hard. Circumstances, cross-roads moments, freedoms that seem to be disappearing and taken away from us will definitely affect how we make our choices. Some of us don't have the luxury of an array of choices. But we always have a choice...to muscle through, to cave into pressure, to respond with love, with hate, with anger, grace, or serenity. The choice is ours. We can't undo our choices. Once we make them, we have to live with them...day by day.
So what is it you will do with the day you've been given? What are you pouring into? Who are you investing in? And are you taking time for yourself? It's not selfish or wrong. We need it. I understand that "you time" might be little to none day to day. But if you can somehow find a moment to just stop, think, pray, and appreciate...it can change the entire heartbeat of your day. The days that we have to yourself, do something meaningful with them. Take time to enjoy life a little and rest in the moment. Once this day is over, be thankful for it. And if you've been given the next, take that day and make it yours. It's what you do with it.
Once we learn how to number our days, we'll begin to have a heart of wisdom.
*photo by Paul Jacala, Copyright 2014
This is poetry in addition to philosophy - great read and keep up the excellent writing
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