Today Is the Last Day of Your Life

I’ve finished reading my 2nd book for the year, Instinct, The Power to Unleash Your Inborn Drive. I’m now moving on to book number 3, The Power of Awakening by Dr. Wayne Dyer. I have about 40 books on my Kindle wishlist and this was not one of them but I’m glad I was drawn to it and chose it because it’s so profound. So many aha moments! Here’s one directly from the book.

Let’s circle back to the phrase “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” I’d really like to change it to “Today is the last day of your life.” Now there’s a slogan! You don’t have any “rest of your life” guaranteed to you at all. What you get is now. You’ve got to learn that death is like the old joke: it’s nature’s way of telling you to slow down. Sure, it’ll do that. But all kidding aside, you’ve got to get things in perspective. Life itself is an unfinished-ness. It’s not like you’re going to get it all organized into the right place, and then check out. No. God doesn’t tell you in the morning, “You’ll be checking out about 11: 30 P.M. You will be joining me tonight.” You can’t say, “Wait a minute, God. You don’t understand. I bought three bottles of shampoo. As soon as I use up that shampoo, I’ll be ready. And by the way, God, I’ve got a whole bunch of steaks in the freezer. I got them on sale and haven’t even touched them yet.” You don’t want to make God mad on your last day. He could say, “Now it’ll be about 11: 20 P.M, buddy.” I suggest that you get into the habit of telling yourself every morning, “This is the last day I’ve got.” Because you know something? All of us, at some time or another, have got to face a last day. Nobody’s leaving here alive. And when you tell yourself, “This is the last day of my life,” you get a whole new perspective on the worlds of form and nonform. You know death is merely another transition rather than anything to be feared.

Let’s say you’re in a traffic jam on your way to work. If you know that this is the last traffic jam you’re ever going to get, you’re going to enjoy the hell out of it. If this is your last bridge crossing, you’ll be checking that bridge out carefully. You’ll introduce yourself to everybody in line there: “Excuse me, my name is Wayne Dyer. I’ll be leaving tonight, but I wanted to tell you how much I like that bridge there. Boy, is that nice.” There would be no rush. You’d take it easy, and savor your time. Now, why not cultivate that attitude for everything in your life? Keeping your focus on the big picture will help you do just that.”

— The Power of Awakening: Mindfulness Practices and Spiritual Tools to Transform Your Life by Wayne W. Dyer