“As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.”
Leonardo da Vinci
Beyond the Quote (12/365)
At the end of every day, when you lay your head down on your pillow, there are usually a few moments of reflection. Sometimes the movie of your mind plays memories from the day, or replays situations that you might have acted on differently, or even anticipates the things that are to come. Sometimes these thoughts and reflections leave you feeling dissatisfied and sometimes they leave you feeling accomplished. When you pay attention to, and are mindful of, the average feeling of how you spent the time of your days, then you can start to navigate, and get in tune with, the direction and path of your life.
If you’ve ever done the deathbed exercise—where you envision yourself on your deathbed and think about some of your greatest memories and biggest regrets—then you know how important it is to be in tune with the path of your life. The simple fact of the matter is that we have no idea when we’re going to be on our deathbed, so exercising our ability to take control of our path, our sense of accomplishment, and our feeling of happiness/ contentment on a micro scale (within the framework of a day), is incredibly important. What we need to be cautious of is the idea that we’re always going to have more time to do what we want/ know we should do—because we’re not. Because while the days go by slowly, the decades fly by.
So, when thinking about living your best life, rather than trying to figure out how you’re going to spend your decades, focus on how you’re going to spend your days—one day at a time. If your top priorities include personal development, time for family, experiences with friends, work that aligns with your soul, and service that helps others, for example, then try to make room for each of those items in each day (or within the framework of each week). Because THAT’S what’s going to allow you to lay your head down onto your pillow at the end of each night and close your eyes with contentment and ease—and those well-spent days are going to accumulate to build the legacy and memory that will ultimately become your life. And what better way to spend a day (and a life) than that?
Read Next: 15 Thich Nhat Hanh Quotes on Embracing Death and How it Helps Unlock Happiness
Don't Let the Motivation Stop There...!
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