moments

I read this not too long ago; in the book in which it was quoted, it said the author was anonymous, but I've since found out it's attributed to the late Nadine Stair, who wrote it when she was 85:

If I had my life to live over, I'd dare to make more mistakes next time.
I'd relax. I would limber up.
I would be sillier than I have been this trip.
I would take fewer things seriously.
I would take more chances. I would take more trips.
I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers.
I would eat more ice cream and less beans.
I would perhaps have more actual troubles, but I'd have fewer imaginary ones.

You see, I'm one of those people who live sensibly and sanely hour after hour, day after day.
Oh, I've had my moments and if I had it to do over again, I'd have more of them.
In fact, I'd try to have nothing else.
I've been one of those persons who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a raincoat, and a parachute.
If I had to do it again, I would travel lighter than I have.

If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall.
I would go to more dances.
I would ride more merry-go-rounds.
I would pick more daisies.

* * * * * * *

The part that especially struck me was that she said she would choose to have nothing else but "moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day".

I was walking Kip today, enjoying the serenity of the evening and the fact that I was actually living in the moment, with my thoughts actually dwelling in the now, when it seemed to me that that is what a content life is -- living moments, and not some grandiose, hypothetically endless affair in which one continually plays centre stage. Just moments to be fully experienced as they happen, without pointless reasonings, analyses, and fearful what-if type imaginings. Just moments, experienced with gratitude and a conscious focusing on one's blessings.