Posts by Pat:
Today is tomorrow’s yesterday…
What we do today will either enhance or diminish our future present moments. But most people put things off until tomorrow. We thoughtlessly forgo exercise and education, go into debt, and justify negative relationships.
But at some point, it all catches up. Like an airplane off-course, the longer we wait to correct it the longer and harder it is to get back on course.
Have you read this before?
There are two days in every week about which we should not worry. Two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.
One of these days is yesterday with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed. We cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone.
The other day that we should not worry about is tomorrow with its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise and poor performance. Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control. Tomorrow’s sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in tomorrow, for it is yet unborn.
This leaves only one day…today. Anyone can fight the battles of just one day; it is only when we add the burdens of those two awful eternities – yesterday and tomorrow – that we break down. It is not the experience of today that drives people mad. It is the remorse or bitterness for something which happened yesterday, and the dread of what tomorrow may bring. Let us therefore live but one day at a time. ~Author unknown~
We need to embrace all the moments we are given:
- We get to anticipate the experiences we want to have (which is often more enjoyable than the experiences themselves).
- We get to have the experience we long for.
- And then we get to remember and carry those experiences with us forever.
Today is our bridge from yesterday to tomorrow. To put it another way, it is our bridge from what we can’t change to what we can. There are 86,400 seconds in our life today. Once the clock strikes midnight today is gone, never to return.
So what’s my question?
A flower doesn’t stop being beautiful just because somebody walks by without noticing it. The flower just continues to be its glorious self: elegant, graceful, and magnificent. Mother Nature has provided us with these immeasurably valuable teachers that blossom despite their short lifespan, stars that continue to shine even if we fail to notice them, […]
What Jefferson Really Meant
When you talk with folks about happiness, they often quote Thomas Jefferson’s famous line from the Declaration of Independence about eveyone being entitled to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” We’ve been conditioned to believe that happiness is something for us to pursue. But that’s not what Jefferson really meant by the pursuit of […]
Need another reason?
A story from the famed basketball coach George Raveling resonates with me about an invaluable lesson from his grandmother who had raised him. “Why did the slave masters hide their money in books, George?” she asked him when he was a young boy. “I don’t know, grandma, he said. “Because they knew the slaves wouldn’t […]
The panther, the dog and the squirrel…
As we get older and find ourselves looking for a gate to open rather than climbing over the fence, we can at least say to ourselves, “I may be slower, but at least I am wise.” With that thought in mind, here’s an oldie but goodie for you! One day an old German Shepherd starts […]
The Two Oreo Principle
Who doesn’t love Oreos? After all, they are chocolate! Once they are in the house, we may just start eating a couple each day. You know, one of those tiny, seemingly inconsequential things that add up over time. So if we crunch the numbers…Two oreos a day for an entire year at 45+/- calories for […]
Be-Do-Have?
Most people believe that they must first have something (money, time, love) Before they can do what they want to do (travel the world, write a book, have a romantic relationship) Which will ultimately allow them to be something (happy, peaceful, motivated). Paradoxically, this have-do-be paradigm must be reversed to experience happiness, success, or anything […]
Here be dragons…
“Here be dragons” (hic sunt dracones in Latin) means dangerous or unexplored territories, in imitation of a medieval practice of putting illustrations of dragons, sea monsters and other mythological creatures on uncharted areas of maps where potential dangers were thought to exist. Though only on one historical map, this famous phrase may well have served […]
Rules for chocolate?!
Before sharing some of my favorite “chocolate rules” I need to acknowledge (as a previous retail owner of a chocolate store) that I really do know that it’s important for us to be somewhat discerning about the chocolate we eat! After all M&M’s are only a last resort and most of those milk chocolate bars […]