Ask HN: What is the best advice you got on any aspect of life?

Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.

It's the day-to-day activities of life that are important. Even those great plans you're making, you're going to have to live through it day-by-day. The here and now is the only thing that actually exists.

As for an interesting anecdote, I had an episode where I suddenly and unexpectedly started not feeling well, was thinking I needed to lay down, and then found myself on the floor with my head on a pillow and my feet propped up. I was thinking, yeah, this is what I needed. It slowly dawned on me my wife was on the phone with 911 and was about to start chest compressions just before I came to. I heard sirens in the background and realized they were coming for me. I later learned I had slumped over in my chair.

When the medics arrived I had a very weak pulse and extremely low blood pressure. I have mild hypertension and I thought it rather funny that they were trying to increase my blood pressure en route to the hospital in the ambulance. I was extremely cold, a cold I've never experienced, which is weird because I'm always the one who's hot.

As I was laying on the gurney waiting to be admitted to the ER I had the realization today might be the day I die. I started laughing to myself as I realized nobody ever had "die" on their to-do list for the day. That gave me a deep insight into how optimistic we are - even the terminally ill never think today is going to be THE DAY. It was just an interesting observation on human nature.

Anyway, I'm fine. No blood clots, they checked my heart out and it's fine and I don't have any blockages. They don't know why it happened but I've since discovered others who've had a similar experience and like me, everything checked out fine and they never had any further issues. My own experience was over a year ago and I've had no other issues since.

Anyway, I'll leave you with this quote:

Live every day like it's your last

Because you never know which day will actually be your last. As I discovered regardless of your health condition we're always surprised when the end comes.

I'm not a practicing Buddhist but I find myself significantly less miserable when I take the limits of gratification and the illusions I (and most people) are continually falling prey to into consideration.

Not meditation in the "focus on one thing to the exclusion of all else" sense, but mindfulness based on the practice of Vipassana, which roughly translates to "see things as they really are" and stems from Buddhism.

As part of this practice, one is taught that emotions are just appearances in consciousness like all other appearances in consciousness (sights, sounds, smells, feelings, physical sensations, etc), and by becoming aware of/observing emotions/thoughts instead of just feeling them and identifying with them, the power they hold fades quickly.

It's hard to describe the anti-suffering impact this seems to have in words, but for me, the difference has been remarkable. Emotions are still just as critical as ever to live a fulfilling life, but how you relate with those emotions can change with practice and re-framing.

I started this exploration as the ultimate skeptic, but have found it to be far more practically helpful than I expected. Having a good teacher seems to be important, as they will continue to help you navigate the earlier stages of figuring out what you're supposed to actually do (turns out it's more about what you're not doing).

I've personally been using Sam Harris' "Waking Up" app, and find that quite useful, but there are many more resources available.

Also, lesser but still very useful, from my dad, "You might not think you can go the whole way, but you can always put one foot in front of the other."

(Thoughtful comments appreciated with the inevitable downvotes.)