Learning to take one thing and one day at a time

So you want to be one of the privileged few who is almost immune to serious illnesses and bouts of depression.
It's every easy. The Buddhists call it "being mindful". Being mindful means doing ordinary things in an unhurried manner.
I have been to a Buddhist meditation centre where the devotees subject themselves to doing things in a super-slow mode. It may seem strange or even abnormal to the untrained eyes but once you understand the philosophy that underlies such behaviour, you may even want to try it yourself.
When you hold a flower petal in your hand, what else do you do? To the Buddhist who practises mindfulness, it encompasses touching the petal gracefully and gently as if it is the last thing you will ever touch before you leave the earth.
You see the colours of the flower petal and be gradually amazed at what you ordinarily don't pay attention to. You inhale the fragrance that comes from one of Nature's secret treasures. You allow your heart and soul to be touched by the substance ethereal and of fleeting pleasure.
Marvel at the short stem that is part of the petal. You allow yourself to forget about time. As a result, time neglects you and you are no longer in the control of time.
Things seem to recede in the background. You do not allow thoughts to tarnish the holiness of that moment. Your gaze becomes one with the environment. You are now one with nature and Nature becomes you.
Sounds too transcendental for you? Perhaps for the ordinary Joe but not for those who have ventured past the gates of ordinary existence and into the garden of the eternity.
When you take one thing at a time very mindfully, you will begin to forget the strain of the day. Your heart and soul obey the dictates of what is and what can be. You will be glad that the Now factor is living within you.
Many Zen practitioners throughout the ages have sought earnestly this domain of timelessness. Very few have managed to gain entry into the realm of forever. You can arrive there if you don't hurry or if you don't seek to gain everything at a rush.
Such is the way of the wise. Such is the grace that comes from being in the moment.