A Glimpse into Tomorrow: A Recipe for Perspective

Here's my recipe, darling:

Close your eyes and imagine a day that will eventually come—

very old and dazed, lying in bed, unable to rise.

Picture the moment in detail, feel the smell of medication, the chill, the numbness in your feet and hands.

Let your imagination become a time machine. Close your eyes and be there—in the room with yourself, old and fading. Feel the breath of the angel of death standing beside you. Realize how little time is left.

And, I swear, if your imagination does its job, you'll return to the present as a completely different person—someone who no longer frets over trivial nonsense. Whether it's a bad mood or a breakup, it won't matter. Compare the size of your problem not to a pimple on your behind, but at least to the wreath on a coffin lid.

Christina Stark, from the book The Dogs of LilithChristina Stark, from the book The Dollmaker of Lilith