Sometime back, I read an article about a British WWII officer who was surprised as he was freed from a Japanese prisoner of war camp in Japan to find that as he was driven away, he felt a little sorrow that he almost certainly would not ever see the place again. This last chance effect can be powerful. Quite a few of my friends who are my age wake up dead these days. So, one way of having the last chance is being dead the next time a chance might come up.
I don't make a big deal of it but when I have to sit for an especially long light to turn green, I try to remember that the moment might actually be my last chance to be there and see that scene. When I get balled out for doing something thoughtless or stupid, I bring to mind that that dressing-down might be the last one I ever get. Such a position puts the negative statements in something of a special light, like an old song with many important memories attached.
A common Buddhist-new age aim is to be alert to one's day-to-day actual experience. When I focus on the mailman's delivery, I see that it is a fine service with a long, noble history behind it. When he pulls up to our mailbox, that might be the last time I get to see that performance. Might as well appreciate it for the fine dance it is. In a sense, having an important goal or purpose can interfere with seeing what is going on in front of me and appreciating it for its value, its significance, the effort and continuity, ingenuity and potential it represents.
