The one who knows the better way to live alone

So the Buddha observed:

Do not pursue the past.
Do not lose yourself in the future.
The past no longer is.
The future has not yet come.
Looking deeply at life as it is,
in the very here and now,
the practitioner dwells
in stability and freedom.

We must be diligent today.
To wait until tomorrow is too late.
Death comes unexpectedly.
How can we bargain with it?
The sage calls the person who
dwells in mindfulness
night and day
'the one who knows the better way to live alone.'


from Thich Nhat Hahn in The Awakening of the Heart