Here is to dying in a conscious way – the rest of the thought on living like you are dying.

It is an encouragement to be present.

Try it.

Go outside and look up at the sky.

Take a big long deep breath.

And realize how unusual and spectacular it is that you are alive.

You are alive and standing on a little planet that is moving 390 kilometers per second through space.

It is something, if you think about it.

“To live as if we are dying gives us a chance to experience some real presence. Time is so full for people who are dying in a conscious way, full in the way that life is for children. They spend big round hours. So instead of staring miserably at the computer screen trying to will my way into having a breakthrough, I say to myself, “Okay, hmmm, let’s see. Dying tomorrow. What should I do today?” Then I can decide to read Wallace Stevens for the rest of the morning or go to the beach or just really participate in ordinary life. Any of these will begin the process of filling me back up with observations, flavors, ideas, visions, memories. I might want to write on my last day on earth, but I’d also be aware of other options that would feel at least as pressing. I would want to keep whatever I did simple, I think. And I would want to be present.”

–Anne Lamott, Bird By Bird

I can not get out of my head the phrase “dying in a conscious way.”

Let’s do that every day.