At the beginning of each day, ask yourself:
[1] What are my goals for today?
[2] What are the five most important things that I need to do today and what is their order of priority?
[3] What new Torah knowledge do I plan to gain today?
[4] What acts of kindness can I do today?
[5] What one trait would I like to excel in today?
[6] What positive change am I resolved to make or maintain today?
[7] If today were my last day, what would I make certain to do?
[8] How can I gain by looking at today as the first day of the rest of my life?
[9] What would you like written on my tombstone? What do I plan to do today in that area?
[10] What is important for me to remember today?
-from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s “Gateway to Self Knowledge,” p.188
I must admit to not being this organized.
In considering item [10] above, I appreciate most of the above except for item [9]. I’m seriously hoping not to have much need of a tombstone any time soon, nor do I expect anyone to wander through a cemetery, where my body might be interred, reading inscriptions. It’s not a particularly Jewish pastime. Moreover, a pithy statement on a stone is not my idea of immortality. In fact, if the event described in 1Cor.15:50-53 and 1Thes.4:15-16 should occur within the next couple of decades, the issue could be entirely moot. Can I get a shout-out of “Maran-ata!” and Moshia’h Now!”, anybody? If someone should decide to place an engraved marker upon my grave, I will rely on the advice of Proverbs 27:2 — “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; A stranger, and not your own lips.”
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