第1章

When tomorrow turns in today, yesterday, and someday that no more important in your memory, we suddenly realize that we are pushed forward by time. This is not a train in still in which you may feel forward when another train goes by. It is the truth that we've all grown up. And we become different.

当明天变成了今天成为了昨天，最后成为记忆里不再重要的某一天，我们突然发现自己在不知不觉中已被时间推着向前走，这不是在静止火车里与相邻列车交错时，仿佛自己在前进的错觉，而是我们真实地在成长，在这件事里成了另一个自己。

PREFACE

Just for Today

Just for today I will try to live through this day only and not tackle my whole life problem at once. I can do something for twelve hours that would appall me if I had to keep it up for a lifetime.

Just for today I will be happy. This assumes to be true what Abraham Lincoln said, that ?Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.

Just for today I will adjust myself to what is, and not try to adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my ?luck? as it comes.

Just for today I will try to strengthen my mind. I will study. I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.

Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways. I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out: If anybody knows of it, it will not count. I will do at least two things I don't want to do just for exercise. I will not show anyone that my feelings are hurt: they may be hurt, but today I will not show it.

Just for today I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress becomingly, talk low, act courteously, criticize not one bit, and try not to improve or regulate anybody but myself.

Just for today I will have a program, I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it. I will save myself from two pests: hurry and indecision.

Just for today I will have a quiet half hour all by myself and relax. During this half hour, sometime, I will try to get a better perspective of my life.

Just for today I will be unafraid. Especially I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful, and to believe that as I give to the world, so the world will give to me.只为今天，我将会努力仅仅为今天而活，而不是立刻去解决我生命中遇到的难题。我可以12个小时都做同样的事，但若一辈子每天都这样过，会让人恐惧不已。

只为今天，我会很快乐。亚伯拉罕·林肯说得对，“对于大多数人来说，他们认为自己有多幸福，就有多幸福”。

只为今天，我会自我调整，让自己去适应事物的本来面貌，而不是想方设法苛求万物遵循我的意愿来运转。“好运”来的时候，我会抓住它。

只为今天，我会努力让内心变得强大。我会学习，学一些有用的东西。我不要成为思想上懒散的人。我将会读一些需要下苦功、思考和专注才能读懂的书。

只为今天，我会用三种方法磨炼自己的灵魂。我会做好事不留名，若被人发现就不算数。我至少要做两件不是只为了磨炼的事情。我不会让任何人看到我的感情受到伤害：可能很痛，但是今天我不想表现出来。

只为今天，我会变得和蔼可亲。我会展现出我的最佳状态，穿着得体、言谈温和、行为礼貌、决不吹毛求疵，试着提高并调整自己而非他人。

只为今天，我会制订一项计划，也许我不会严格执行，但我一定要有这个计划。我会将自己从两个危害中解救出来：仓促行事和优柔寡断。

只为今天，我会独自静静地待上半小时，让自己放松。在这半小时里，某些时刻，我会对自己的生活有个更美好的期望。

只为今天，我会变得无所畏惧。尤其是，我不会再害怕享受美好，我相信我给予世界，世界也会给予我，付出就有回报。

Every Day Is a Gift

My brother-in-law opened the bottom drawer of my sister's bureau and lifted out a tissue wrapped package. This, he said, is not a slip. This is lingerie. He discarded the tissue and handed me the slip.

It was exquisite, silk, and handmade and trimmed with a cobweb of lace. The price tag with an astronomical figure on it was still attached.

Jan bought this the first time we went to New York, at least 8 or 9 years ago. She never wore it. She was saving it for a special occasion.

Well, I guess this is the occasion.

He took the slip from me and put it on the bed, with the other clothes we were taking to the mortician. His hands lingered on the soft material for a moment, and then he slammed the drawer shut and turned to me, Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Every day you're alive is a special occasion.

I remembered those words through the funeral and the days that followed when I helped him and my niece attend to all the sad chores that follow an unexpected death. I thought about them on the plane returning to California from the Midwestern town where my sister's family lives. I thought about all the things that she hadn't seen or heard or done. I thought about the things that she had done without realizing that they were special.

I'm still thinking about his words, and they've changed the weeds in the garden. I'm spending more time with my family and friends and less time in committee meetings. Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of experience to savor, not endure. I'm trying to recognize these moments now and cherish them.

I'm not saving anything; we use our good china and crystal for every special. Event such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped, the first camellia blossom... I wear my good blazer to the market if I feel like it. My theory is if I look prosperous, I can shell out $28. 49 for one small bag of groceries without wincing. I'm not saving my good perfume for special parties; clerks in hardware stores and tellers in banks have noses that function as well as my party going friends.

Someday and one of these days are losing their grip on my vocabulary. If it's worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and hear and do it now. I'm not sure what my sister would've done had she know that she wouldn't be here for the tomorrow we all take for granted.

I think she would have called family members and a few close friends. She might have called a few former friends to apologize, and mend fences for past squabbles. I like to think she would have gone out for a Chinese dinner, her favorite food. I'm guessing. I'll never know.

It's those little things left undone that would make me angry if I knew that my hours were limited. Angry because I put off seeing good friends whom I was going to get in touch with someday. Angry because I hadn't written certain letters that I intended to write one of these days. Angry and sorry that I didn't tell my husband and daughter often enough how much I truly love them.

I'm trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would add laughter and luster to our lives. And every morning when I open my eyes, I tell myself that every day, every minute, every breath truly, is a gift from God.

Relish the Moment

Tucked away in our subconscious is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long trip that spans the continent. We are traveling by train. Out the windows, we drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at a crossing, of cattle grazing on a distant hillside, of smoke pouring from a power plant, of row upon row of corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of mountains and rolling hillsides, of city skylines and village halls.

But uppermost in our minds is the final destination. On a certain day at a certain hour, we will pull into the station. Bands will be playing and flags waving. Once we get there, so many wonderful dreams will come true and the pieces of our lives will fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. How restlessly we pace the aisles, damning the minutes for loitering'waiting, waiting, waiting for the station.

When we reach the station that will be it! We cry. When I'm 18. When I buy a new 450SL Mercedes Benz! When I put the last kid through college. When I have paid off the mortgage! When I get a promotion. When I reach the age of retirement, I shall live happily ever after!

Sooner or later, we must realize there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip. The station is only a dream. It constantly outdistances us.

Relish the moment is a good motto, especially when coupled with Psalm 118: 24 This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. It isn't the burdens of today that drive men mad. It is the regrets over yesterday and the fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin thieves who rob us of today.

So stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. In stead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot more often, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more, cry less. Life must be lived as we go along. The station will come soon enough.

How to Spend the Life You Have Left

It's hard, from within the storm of every day life, to see things with real perspective, to know what's important and what's simply pressing on our consciousness right now, demanding attention.

We have people emailing us for information and requesting action, we have phone calls and visitors and a long to do list and a million chores and errands to run and all of the slings and arrows of our daily reality...and yet, what is important?

Ask yourself this: if you suddenly found out you only had 6 months to live (for whatever reason), would the thing in front of you matter to you?

Would those 20 emails waiting for a response matter? Would the paperwork waiting to be processed matter? Would the work you're doing matter? Would the meetings you're supposed to have matter? Would a big car and nice house and high-paying job and cool computer and mobile device and nice shoes and clothes matter?

I'm not saying they wouldn't matter...but it's important to ask yourself if they would.

What would matter to you?

For many of us, it's the loved ones in our lives. If we don't have loved ones...maybe it's time we started figuring out why, and addressing that. Maybe we haven't made time for others, for getting out and meeting others and helping others and being compassionate and passionate about others. Maybe we have shut ourselves in somehow. Or maybe we do have loved ones in our lives, but we don't seem to have the time we want to spend with them.