“The wealthiest place in the world is not the gold mines of South America or the oil fields of Iraq or Iran. They are not the diamond mines of South Africa or the banks of the world. The wealthiest place on the planet is just down the road. It is the cemetery. There lie buried companies that were never started, inventions that were never made, bestselling books that were never written, and masterpieces that were never painted. In the cemetery is buried the greatest treasure of untapped potential.”― Myles Munroe

As the saying goes,”‘Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present.” Every day we are all given the invaluable gift of time to create a masterpiece of our one precious life. We get credited with 86,400 seconds, 1,440 minutes, and 24 hours each morning, how we spend our time determines the course of our life. The average lifetime is about 83 years in which we spend 1/3rd sleeping (27 years), and another 1/3rd is spent commuting, working, and child-rearing, among other activities.

Dream as if you‘ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today. – James Dean

For 83 years old adults, the time to be productive is less than 20 years. Most of us delay living our lives as we say, “Someday I’ll, ” we overestimate the value of a year and underestimate the value of a day. Make every day a masterpiece by making the committed effort to the actualization of your goals and aspiration. As the late founder of Apple once said, “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” We only live once, but if we lead this one precious life, right once is enough.

Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every penny, of course!!!! Each of us has such a bank. Its name is TIME. Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose. It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. There is no going back. There is no drawing against the “tomorrow.” You must live in the present on today’s deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness, and success! The clock is running. Make the most of today.

Coach John Wooden is considered to be one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all time. He won ten NCAA national champions, with seven of them in consecutive years. He had four undefeated seasons, including an 88-game winning streak. In his 27 years tenure as the head coach of the UCLA Bruins, he had a 620-147 record. While growing up, John’s dad game his a gift that shaped his life philosophy. He was given a card with a few guidelines on living a purposeful life.

In his book, Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court, Coach John Wooden recalls:

Dad also gave me something that day that would shape my entire life: my work, my marriage, my goals, my entire philosophy. It was a card on which he had written a few guidelines. I still carry it with me. On one side was this verse by the Reverend Henry Van Dyke:

Four things a man must learn to do If he would make his record true:

To think without confusion clearly;
To love his fellow men sincerely;
To act from honest motives purely;
To trust in God and Heaven securely.

On the other side of the paper, Dad had written out his creed. At the top of the paper, it said “Seven Things to Do.” It read as follows:

i. Be true to yourself.
2. Help others.
3. Make each day your masterpiece.
4. Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible.
5. Make friendship a fine art.
6. Build a shelter against a rainy day.
7. Pray for guidance and count and give thanks for your blessings every day.

“All he said when he gave me the little note he had written was, “Son, try and live up to these things.”

The third rule in John Wooden’s dad card was “Make each day your masterpiece.” John makes the following observation on principle:

Too often, we get distracted by what is outside our control. You can’t do anything about yesterday. The door to the past has been shut, and the key thrown away. You can do nothing about tomorrow. It is yet to come. However, tomorrow is in large part determined by what you do today. So make today a masterpiece. You have control over that.

This rule is even more important in life than basketball. You have to apply yourself each day to become a little better. By applying yourself to the task of becoming a little better each and every day over a period of time, you will become a lot better. Only then will you be able to approach being the best you can be. It begins by trying to make each day count and knowing you can never make up for a lost day.

I have shut the door on yesterday, Its sorrows and mistakes. I have locked within its gloomy walls. Past failures and mistakes. And now I throw the key away, And seek another room. And furnish it with hope and smiles, And every spring-time bloom. No thought shall enter this abode. That has a taint of pain. And envy, malice, and distrust. Shall never entrance gain. I have shut the door on yesterday. And thrown the key away. Tomorrow holds no fear for me, Since I have found today. – Shut the Door on Yesterday, Vivian Yeiser Laramore

Meditations

Daily Calm with Tamara Levitt – Tima
In our materialistic and consumeristic world, we often become convinced that whatever we have is insufficient. We constantly strive, even when we have attained comfort; we are conditioned to long for more.
Tima is an Icelandic word meaning Not being ready to spend time or money on a specific thing, despite being able to afford it. It is what happens when a sense of scarcity sips into our consciousness.
Frugality is a worthy virtue, but it is unhealthy to move through life with a lack-mentality, always fixated on what is beyond our reach and fearful of what is beyond our grasp. It feels like we never have enough to go around, and it is hard to be happy when others have success.
Finding peace and contentment is impossible when we always want more. Whenever we think and act out of scarcity, we reinforce a belief system of lack and fear. Shift focus from what we lack to what we have, and practice acceptance instead of rejecting our reality and grasping for something beyond it.

Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into. – Wayne Dyer

Daily Jay with Jay Shetty: Pet Peeves
Pattern Interrupt: When you recognize an unwanted pattern and then disrupt it to bring about a happier outcome.