One day, a Buddhist teacher from the forest monasteries of Thailand—was teaching, one of his students asked him, “How can you be happy in a world of such impermanence, where you cannot protect your loved ones from harm, illness, and death?”

He held up a glass and said, “Someone gave me this glass. I really like this glass. It holds my water admirably and it glistens in the sunlight. I touch it and it rings! One day the wind may blow it off my shelf, or my elbow may knock it from the table. This glass is already broken. Even as I hold it in my hand I know it is already on the floor in pieces, so I enjoy it incredibly.”

The glass is already broken. We are already dead, so certain is our physical demise. Seen through this lens, what is the hurry? What is the rush? Where is the fire? The fire has already come, and everything has already burned to the ground.

We are getting closer to death with every breath, and no strategy will exempt us from a sure and certain end to our life as we know it, so I enjoy it incredibly!