This is your day May you spend it wisely From the editor by Tim Miejan "Have you really lived 10,000 or more days, or have you lived one day 10,000 or more times?" -- Wayne Dyer A funny thing happened the other day while browsing the web. I happened to return to the website for Peter Russell, the scientist and meditator whose latest book, From Science to God, was the topic of our interview last month. On his website, among the colorful images and lines that offer a flow chart -- or mind map -- to everything he offers online is a small picture of him and the words: "My age is 20353." And then there's a place to click to learn more. It turns out that a few years back, Peter began counting his age not in years, but days. He explains:. "The day is the natural cycle of our lives. The cycle of light and dark, wakefulness and sleep, has more significance than the cycle of the seasons. Indeed, in equatorial latitudes, you hardly notice the passing of the seasons. The day is what counts. "Each day is a complete unit in itself. At the end of each day I can look back and take stock. How have I been? What have I learnt? What can I be grateful for? "I can hold a day's experience in mind quite easily. Trying to go back and take stock of a whole year is much harder. Numerous incidents and discoveries are inevitably forgotten. I also find it far more meaningful to think that I have lived through nearly twenty thousand days this life, rather than 50 years. And it reframes the future. I have -- probably -- thousands of days still to come. Thousands of new days to discover, enjoy and learn from." Such is the mindset of a true pioneer in human consciousnessness. Peter allows each of us to determine how many days old we are, too. On his site [www.peterrussell.com/age.html] you can insert your own date of birth and learn how many tens of thousands of days that your heart has been beating. At this writing, I am 15097 days old. Synchronicity I offer this information because of another synchonicity. While scanning endless quotes from famous and infamous men and women the other day, I came across one that caused me to sit back in my chair and take a breath. "One should count each day a separate life." -- Seneca What an interesting idea. To me, it spoke of mindfulness. Of staying present. Of not wandering into yesterday or out into tomorrow, because they don't exist. In this one day, this is my life and everything that passes my way and comes into my mind shall be treated with honor and respect. With this principle, it seems that our worries about the past or about that which has not happened would become unnecessary -- even pointless. I learned online that Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a lawyer, politician, writer and philosopher in Rome who died about 60 years after the birth of Jesus. He was a Stoic who preached one should strive to "do the right thing," that there is a god within each of us and that happiness could be found by following our inner guide and being content with our life as it is. He was advising us to live for today, because you never know if it will be your last: "We are not ready for death, and therefore we fear it, because we do not know what will become of us when we are gone; and that consideration strikes us with an inexplicable terror. The way to avoid this distraction is to contract our business and our thoughts: when the mind is once settled, a day or an age is all one to us; and the series of time, which is now our trouble, will be then our delight: for he that is steadily resolved against all uncertainties, shall never be disturbed with the variety of them. Let us make haste, therefore, to live, since every day to a wise man is a new life; for he has done his business the day before, and so prepared himself for the next, that if it be not his last, he knows yet that it might have been so. No man enjoys the true taste of life, but he that is willing and ready to quit it." Seneca wasn't the first, or the last, person to make such a recommendation. People who are in recovery, who live with a life-threatening disease, who have little means to get by, who are so devoted in their faith...all of these people live one day at a time. An anonyous poet, whose work can be found on numerous websites, offered us this: Living One Day at a Time Our lives are made up of a million moments,  spent in a million different ways.  Some are spent searching forlove, peace, and harmony. Others are spent surviving day by day. But there is no greater moment than when we find that life, with all it's joys and sorrows, is meant to be lived one day at a time. It's in this knowledge that we discover the most wonderful truth of all.  Whether we live in a forty-room mansion,  surrounded by servants and wealth, or find it a struggle to manage the rent month to month, we have it within our power to be fully  satisfied and live a life with true meaning.  One day at a time -- we have that ability,  through cherishing each moment  and rejoicing in each dream. We can experience each day anew, and with this fresh start we have  what it takes to make all our dreams come true. Each day is new, and living one day at a time  enables us to truly enjoy life and live it to the fullest.  I leave you with these ideas to ponder. May they bless you as you see fit. Tim Miejan is editor of The EDGE. Contact him at editor@edgenews.com or call (651) 578-8969. Copyright (c) 2002 Tim Miejan
March 2002