“If we spend our time with regrets over yesterday, and worries over what might happen tomorrow, we have no today in which to live.”

— Unknown

I found a box of blank checks tonight.

They were in a bramble of blackberry bushes on the side of the road where I was picking up trash. I’ll contact the bank in the morning to see if they can be returned to the account owner or cancelled.

But this situation presents a wonderful metaphor. Imagine you were handed a blank check every morning. Imagine that you could fill it in for any amount of money you wanted up to $10,000, no questions asked. Most of us would probably put down $10,000, the most possible. I would.

In a way that’s what really happens in life. Everyday, we get out of bed and we make a choice about how much value to put into our day.

We get less value by doing the routine, giving up, or making excuses. We get more value by finding ways to do better, persisting, and succeeding.

We get less value by asking ‘why am I failing?’ instead of ‘how can I succeed’?

We get even less value when we are greedy and selfish with our time, treating others with indifference or malice, instead of concern and kindness.

If we spend our time regretting what happened yesterday, or worrying about tomorrow, we get no value out of today.

It’s up to us to fill out the blank check for as much as we can.

Made the neighborhood a little more pleasant by removing some garbage.