Life-celebrating days
The lady was overly apologizing. She had just spilled her freshly refilled coffee on my white pant leg causing a large mess around our feet.
“Don’t worry, today is my life-celebrating day. Tomorrow these pants won’t matter at all.” I said, trying to console her as I reached for some napkins.
“What!” She exclaimed, a little too loudly I thought. “What do you mean those pants won’t matter tomorrow?!”
I have been creating life-celebrating days for so long that I had forgotten that it is an uncommon idea. My matter-of-fact tone must have alarmed her more that the mere coffee spill.
Looking at her with a smile, I explained, “Once a month, I pretend that a particular day is my last day living. On that day, I don’t get caught up in the small disappointments that may happen during the day like not getting the parking space I want or getting cut-off on the freeway or, as in this case, having coffee spilled on me. If today really is my last day, then tomorrow having dirty pants in the laundry is not a big deal to what used to be “Skip”.
“That does not sound like much of a life celebration day,” she said grabbing the now dirtied napkins from me. “What do you do on a life-celebrating day anyway? Still sounds a little morbid to me.”
“Nothing really extra special exactly. Just I try to make an extra effort to notice the beautiful things that might otherwise go unnoticed, like the clouds in the sky, smiles from strangers, and simple things like that. I also call friends and family members I don’t often talk to but wished I could connect with more frequently. Sometimes, the only time we get to talk is on my life-celebrating days. A few of my friends get upset if I don’t call them on life-celebrating days.”
“That’s interesting. How do you choose your life-celebrating days or do you just wake up and say today’s the day?” I couldn’t really tell if she was interested or just trying to be polite as we finished cleaning up the floor and our shoes.
“On the first of every month, I draw a number from 1 to 31 written on some little pieces of paper I keep in a box just for this purpose. Then I mark my calendar for that day. If possible, I’ll treat myself to a better lunch or take a longer walk where I pay attention to the color of the sky, birds flying by, anything to just notice and appreciate the day. I know that some day for real, I won’t have a whole day anymore. I need to keep myself enjoying what I have now.”
“Like coffee stained pants?” she said grinning.
“Like appreciating that I have pants, and legs, and fresh coffee to enjoy. There are lots of people who don’t have those gifts. I am training myself not to over-look what benefits we have that are so often taken for granted.”
“I should do that more,” she said a little sadly, more to herself than to me.
“Make it easy at first, each month on the same number day as your birthday for instance, make that you life-celebrating day. When you remember to do the drawing on the first of the month, that is also a good time to do that too for the randomness it brings. Maybe on that day, for some unknown reason, you really should celebrate your life and those you love. Connect with them.”
“Well, as I have said several times now, I am sorry for the spill and your pants; but thanks for the idea. Today, I feel that I really need a life-celebrating day. It’s starting out rough.”
As we shook hands, I suggested, “Make today your life-celebrating day. Call someone you love. Maybe they need more than a clean pair of pants, maybe they really need to hear from you, you personally. Maybe that will help improve your day too.”
A man sitting nearby who had possibly over-heard the entire conversation caught my attention. He reached out his hand, “I’m going to make today my life-celebrating day. Can I buy you a cup of coffee to go with your pants?”
Let me know how you celebrate your Life-Celebrating day! Please feel free to post your comments below.
October 25th, 2010 at 11:03 am
Great!.explained about Life-celebrating days…i love it
October 25th, 2010 at 8:42 pm
LOVE the idea!!
October 25th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
Thanks Sri! I think we have talked about this before in Skype chats. Glad you like this explanation.
October 25th, 2010 at 9:15 pm
Glad you liked the idea Linh. Thanks for your comment. See you at the Soul of Yoga soon.
October 26th, 2010 at 8:33 am
Hello Skip, Today will be my first Life-Celebrating Day. Thank you for your beautiful inspiration. I just sent a link to this page to half my address book! See you at the Soul tomorrow night, Julie.
October 26th, 2010 at 8:58 am
What a wonderful idea! Thank you!
October 26th, 2010 at 10:07 am
Great Julie and thanks for the sharing! I really appreciate you helping to spread the concept. It is amazing what new perspectives and rekindled Love of Life some of my friends have had on their Life Celebrating Days. Thanks for the good word. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!
October 26th, 2010 at 10:14 am
Nice to meet you Ayleyaell and thank you for your kind words. Your life-story as described on your website is very amazing. What a wonder life experience! Looking forward to learning more about you and sharing ideas! Thanks again.
October 26th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
Hi skip–what a great idea!
October 26th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
Hi Vicki and thanks for your comment. Try it out and if you feel so inclined, post a comment here about how your Life Celebrating Day turned out. Looking forward to hearing from you.
October 27th, 2010 at 6:21 am
good morning Skip,
I enjoyed your lovely reminder that reflects living in the present moment and fully appreciating all of our many blessings- even our hardest days are paradise compared to the way many around the world have to live-
I will try to have many more ‘Life Celebrating Days’ ahead!
in love and light,
Rene’
October 27th, 2010 at 6:29 am
Yes, I agree with you Rene that there are many reasons to feel gratitude even on “our hardest days” as you so well put it. Thanks for your comment and let me know what experiences you have on your ‘Life Celebrating Days’.
October 27th, 2010 at 1:09 pm
Amazingly beautiful, sweet and full of life , I look forward to the practice
October 27th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Thank you Catherine, I know you will have some great Life Celebrating Days!
October 30th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Hi Skip, I love this idea. Thanks for sharing it. I’m going to try it and share it with others. See you soon. How does the Being of Light look with your face on it?
October 30th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Thanks Megan for your kind comment. I really appreciate the Being of Light image you gave me. I have yet to put my face on it, but I will this weekend. I think that is a great idea! Thanks for sharing it.
November 9th, 2010 at 10:50 am
This is terrific Skip! Can’t tell you how much I enjoyed exchanging ideas with you at the MFM Workshop!!
November 9th, 2010 at 11:10 am
Thanks Dave for your kind comments and your insights this weekend too! Looking forward to more conversations with you soon.
November 12th, 2010 at 7:59 am
Hi Skip! This is a fantastic concept! I love the story and will look forward to focusing on the those things which I over look way too much and find joy in throughout my days.
It was my pleasure to get to know you this weekend at the MFM event.
November 23rd, 2010 at 5:12 pm
engaging from the very first line…a beautiful and gentle nudge to all…
December 9th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
I loved this story! I already take “Life-Celebrating Days” I just never called them that..I believe if more people understood the potential of who they are and that they are co-creators of their human existence they would take more “Life-Celebrating Days” as well:)
December 14th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
Greetings John and thank you for your kind note. I agree with you that we all need a “gentle nudge” every once in a while. I know I do. Thanks again.
December 14th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
Hi Valita and I totally agree with you about if people really understood their co-creation capabilities there would be a lot more Life Celebrating Days and less of “Oh no! What now?!” type of reactions to the world around us. Looking forward to more conversation with you at SDSU.
June 25th, 2011 at 8:24 am
Wow Skip, such a wonderful concept. I just had a conversation with Tania, my wife, about it and we agreed to make the 11th of each month our Life-Celebrating day, as it is our anniversary day. Thank you for sharing your experiences. I read a couple of your blog entries and I’ll be sure to come back to continue browsing.
Best,
-3dgar