“I’d like you to take a moment to think about all the things in this life that you will experience for the last time. Of course, there will come a day when you will die, and then everything will have been done for the last time. But long before you die, you will cease to have certain experiences — experiences that you surely take for granted now.” 

This is taken from a podcast with the philosopher Sam Harris – listening to it for the first time a few years was an incredibly profound experience for me. The reality of life is that for the majority of things we do, we will never consciously be aware the last time we do something that it was the last time we did whatever that thing was. It’s about being appreciative of the moment you are in right now. 

For example, parents who read bedtime stories to their children at some point will stop reading bedtime stories for no other reason that their children will grow out of it, and almost certainly they will never think that a given time reading would be the last time they would be reading to that child. 

In the crazy hustle and bustle of everyday life it’s easy to take things for granted and forget to appreciate the little things. What if at least every now and then when doing something you asked yourself what if this was the last time…

#wellbeing#gratitude#mindfulness#samharris