A friend of mine opened his wife's underwear drawer
and picked up a silk paper wrapped package:
"This, - he said - isn't any ordinary package. "He unwrapped the box and stared at both the silk paper and the box. "She got this the first time we went to New York, 8 or 9 years ago. She has never put it on.
Was saving it for a special occasion.
Well, I guess this is it.
He got near the bed and placed
the gift box next to the other clothings
he was taking to the funeral house,
his wife had just died. He turned to me and said:
"Never save something for a special occasion.
Every day in your life is a special occasion".
I still think those words changed my life.
Now I read more and clean less.
I sit on the porch without worrying about anything.
I spend more time with my family, and less at work.
I understood that life should be a source of
experience to be lived up to, not survived
through. I no longer keep anything.
I use crystal glasses every day.
I'll wear new clothes to go to the supermarket,
if I feel like it.
I don't save my special perfume
for special occasions,
I use it whenever I want to.
The words "Someday..." and
"One Day..." are fading away from my dictionary.
If it's worth seeing, listening or doing,
I want to see, listen or do it now.
I don't know what my friend's wife
would have done if she knew she wouldn't
be there the next morning, this nobody can tell.
I think she might have called her relatives
and closest friends.
She might call old friends
to make peace over past quarrels.
I'd like to think she would go out
for Chinese, her favorite food.
It's these small things that I would regret not doing,
if I knew my time had come.
I would regret it, because I would no longer
see the friends I would meet, letters... letters that
I wanted to write "One of this days".
I would regret and feel sad, because I didn't
say to my brothers and sons, not times enough,
how much I love them.
Now, I try not to delay, postpone or keep anything
that could bring laughter and joy into our lives.
And, on each morning,
I say to myself that this could be a special day.
Each day, each hour, each minute, is special.
If you got this, it's because someone
cares for you and because, probably,
there's someone you care about.
This TANTRA came from India.
No matter if you're superstitious
or not, spend some time reading it.
It holds useful messages for the soul.