Zorba, A.A., and the Toltecs

There's a passage in the novel Zorba the Greek where the main character runs into an old man planting a tree and asks what he's doing.  

"You can see what I'm doing.  I'm planting a tree."

"Why are you planting that tree?  You're never going to see it bear fruit."

"I live my life as if I'm never going to die," the old man says.  

As Zorba walks away, a faint smile on his lips, he thinks: "How strange.  I live as if I'm going to die tomorrow.'

There's an old adage that I try to follow: Plan as if I'm going to live forever and live as if I'm going to die tomorrow.    Keeps me in the moment.  Am I going to rage against the machine if today is my last day?  Am I going to waste my last moments angry at someone who didn't use their turn signal?

Here are the Toltecs: "We always have a choice.  I can change things with just one choice.  If I like the way something is going, I can keep doing it.  If I don't like it I can change it."

Unbelievable!  Who would have thought this?  It's too stupid easy to be true!

Keep doing what you're doing and you'll keep getting what you're getting.  Works both ways, doesn't it?

To continue: "Living a life of awareness takes work.  The discipline required to become a master requires constant practice.  And it gets easier to keep a discipline with time."