by Robert Wilkinson
I was reading something about Groucho Marx and this gem of a quote was in it: “There’s a prayer of sorts I recite to myself every night. I don’t know where it comes from, but it’s me: ‘Unborn tomorrow, and dead yesterday, why fret about them if today be sweet?’” Read on to find out where the Master wit found that one….
The author of that article, Ian Ellis-Jones, tipped us off that it’s from The Rubaiyat of Oman Khayyam. He then offered that
another time “Groucho expressed it this way. ‘Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, and I’m going to be happy in it.’ On yet another occasion he expanded on the same theme:Each morning, when I open my eyes, I say to myself I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead. Tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.
That’s living in the NOW. And since we get to choose how we wish to live each moment, then it’s a lot better to be happy and any of the negative mental states we learned when younger. Just as our minds learned to default to negativity, we can turn our mind to more positive things and be happy in each moment.
As “Happiness is of the mind, joy is of the Soul, and bliss is of the Spirit,” then happiness is a state of mind. As such, we have the ability to turn all our thoughts to better things the instant we realize we can do exactly that. With the right point of view, we could be happy and fully present in each moment. We can choose happiness, one day at a time. Which is a good way to live.
© Copyright 2025 Robert Wilkinson
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