Choose one day this week and try this practice. Do it for the entire day, just one, and see how it feels.
Wake up at 4am. When the world is still asleep and calm. Sit at your kitchen table or wherever you would like and actually visualize opening a letter from your doctor’s office and it says that you have stage IV cancer and only have one month to live. Take a moment for this news to sink in. Again, imagine it so clearly that it seems real. Think about how that would feel. How would it affect you? Now, for the rest of the day, keep this practice going. You have terminal cancer and your outlook is one month. How would this affect your actions that day? Would you kiss your partner with more passion? Would you call and talk with friends you’ve grown distant from? Would you smile more? Would you notice the sun and how it felt on your face?
Spend one day like this and at the end of it, journal about that day. What was it like to be truly appreciative of the time we have on this earth? Suddenly, things like your dog peeing on the carpet become less frustrating because you only have a month left to spend with your dog. Why would you get upset about such a frivolous thing?
Now, why would we live our lives any other way? We could very well die in a month, or a week, or tomorrow. So why not live each day appreciating, with everything you are, the fullness of life. When your time does come to pay your debt to death, will you be ready? Will you feel at ease knowing that you lived your life fully?
