Joy and Peace in every moment. How many moments are there in a day? Do you know? There are 86,400. How fast life seems to go, if we are not fully present to enjoy each moment and breathe!

Imagine there is a Bank of Moments that credits your account each morning with $86,400! It carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening the bank wipes out any unused amounts.

What would you do if you had such a bank? Most of us, of course, would draw out every single dollar and cent!!

Each of us has such an account. It is called the account of life, or it can be called living in joyful and peaceful mindfulness. Every morning you are credited with 86,400 seconds or moments. Every night it is wiped off or lost, whatever you have failed to invest. It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft. If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is entirely yours. There is no going back, no borrowing against tomorrow. You must live in the present on today's deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in peace, joy and happiness.

"To realise the value of one year, ask a student who failed a grade. To realise the value of one month, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby. To realise the value of one week, ask the editor of a weekly newsletter. To realise the value of one hour, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet. To realise the value of one minute, ask the person who just avoided an accident. To realise the value of one millisecond, ask the person who won a silver medal." - Author unknown.

Maybe now is the time to start living mindfully and finding joy and peace in each moment.

The Mindfulness Practice Community of Bermuda meets every Sunday at 5.14 p.m. to support the practice of living in awareness. All are welcome to join us. Contact Jeanie by email iamhomeibl.bm or call 236-5976 (Betsy) or visit www.plumvillage.org for more information on these Zen teachings.