In this episode of “5 Minutes,” Dr. Robert Svoboda explores Vimalananda’s daily practice of beginning each morning with three reminders and ending each evening with three questions.

Every morning, Vimalananda would remind himself of three things. First, he was going to die. Second, because he was alive, he had the opportunity to make something useful out of his day, and therefore he was always grateful and thankful for being alive. Third, he would offer a prayer to the Supreme Reality, asking to get through the day remaining alert, calm, and honest with himself, without cheating his consciousness. These three morning practices were to remember that he would die, to be thankful for being alive, and to pray that he could live the day judiciously and righteously, without cheating his conscience.

At the end of the day, he would ask himself three questions: Have I lived? Have I loved? Have I laughed? Have I lived meant: Had he really gone through the day and made the best of every moment? Had he brought his attention to everything that required it? Had he been present rather than wasting time, killing time, passing time, or simply letting time pass him by? Have I loved meant: Had his heart remained open not only to his family members but to everyone, to all sentient beings deserving of compassion, mercy, maitri, or friendship? Have I laughed meant: Had he looked at some of the things he had done during the day and been able to laugh at himself, recognizing where he might have acted differently or failed to live up to his potential?

The important thing is to laugh at yourself rather than berate yourself, beat yourself with a stick, or tell yourself how terrible you were. It is simply an acknowledgment that even though you made it through the day, perhaps you did not do so in the most optimal way, and you can always try to do better the next day if God is kind enough to permit you to wake up.

This practice of beginning the day with the right attitude and ending it by reviewing the day appears in many Sanskritic texts, including Ayurvedic texts, and is regarded as essential for living life properly and judiciously. Dr. Svoboda has followed this practice himself for many decades. It encourages him to reevaluate what he has done during the day and, each morning, to recognize that he has the potential to live one more day. That day may be the day he dies, or it may simply lead to another day. The aim is to be prepared both to die and to live, and at the end of each day to evaluate how one has lived so that, when the time comes to die, one can do so with a clear conscience.