--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: What will you do today, knowing that you…" description: "\"What will you do today, knowing that you are one of the rarest forms of life to ever walk the Earth? How will you carry yourself? What will you do with..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e6/mark-nepo-1670_asks_what-will-you-do-today-knowing-that-you_2051118.png" --- # What will you do today, knowing that you are one of the… ![“What will you do today, knowing that you are one of the rarest forms of life to ever walk the Earth? How will you carry yourself? What will you do with your hands? ... Tomorrow you could die ... but today you are precious and rare and awake ... Grateful and awake, ask what you need to know now…” quote by Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e6/mark-nepo-1670_asks_what-will-you-do-today-knowing-that-you_2051118.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e6/mark-nepo-1670_asks_what-will-you-do-today-knowing-that-you_2051118.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e6/mark-nepo-1670_asks_what-will-you-do-today-knowing-that-you_2051118.png) > “What will you do today, knowing that you are one of the rarest forms of life to ever walk the Earth? How will you carry yourself? What will you do with your hands? ... Tomorrow you could die ... but today you are precious and rare and awake ... Grateful and awake, ask what you need to know now. Say what you feel now. Love what you love now.” [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote urges mindful awareness of life's rarity, urging immediate gratitude, authentic expression, and purposeful action before death. **In simple terms:** Live fully now, cherish each moment. Key Takeaway Act with gratitude and honesty today. Themes mindfulness gratitude authenticity impermanence Mood reflective inspired urgent Type philosophical motivational spiritual When to use this quote - personal reflection - creative work - relationships - health decisions Key Concepts existentialism presence self‑compassion Questions to Reflect On - What does being “rare” mean to you? - How can you honor this awareness in daily tasks? A Different Perspective It may overlook practical constraints that limit immediate action. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Asks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/asks/) [Awake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/awake/) [Awake Ask](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/awake-ask-3866541/) [Awake Grateful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/awake-grateful-3732654/) [Die Today](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/die-today/) [Dies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dies/) [Earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/earth/) [Feels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feels/) [Form](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/form/) [Grateful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grateful/) [Hands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hands/) [Knowing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowing/) [Knows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Love What You Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love-what-you-love-218301/) [Needs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/needs/) [Today](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/today/) [Today Knowing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/today-knowing-232663/) [Today Precious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/today-precious-1183936/) [Tomorrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tomorrow/) [Walks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/walks/) [What you love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/what-you-love/) ## Related quotes > [Every morning when I awake I ask myself whether I should write or blow up a dam. 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Love what YOU love.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/be-your-own-self-love-what-you-love/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [I woke up today knowing everything about everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-richie/i-woke-up-today-knowing-everything-about-everything/) [Nicole Richie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-richie/) > [“then the voice in my head said WHETHER YOU LOVE WHAT YOU LOVE OR LIVE IN DIVIDED CEASELESS REVOLT AGAINST IT WHAT YOU LOVE…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-bidart/then-the-voice-in-my-head-said-whether-you-love-what-you-love-or-live/) [Frank Bidart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-bidart/) > [Do you plan your days? Did you wake up today knowing what you wanted to accomplish? If not, maybe its time you do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melchor-lim/do-you-plan-your-days-did-you-wake-up-today-knowing-what-you-wanted/) [Melchor Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melchor-lim/) > [It is hard to rationalise or explain why you love what you love. But I have always been interested in science and maths, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/serge-haroche/it-is-hard-to-rationalise-or-explain-why-you-love-what-you-love-but-i/) [Serge Haroche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/serge-haroche/) > [The best thing about today is knowing I can do better tomorrow!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-best-thing-about-today-is-knowing-i-can-do-better-tomorrow/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“I can say that I have fallen deeper in love with you today, knowing the sort of man you are.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-featherstone/i-can-say-that-i-have-fallen-deeper-in-love-with-you-today-knowing/) [Charlotte Featherstone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-featherstone/) > [“Design simply today, knowing you can add complexity needed tomorrow.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/design-simply-today-knowing-you-can-add-complexity-needed-tomorrow/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Today is precious gift. Live life. Love life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/today-is-precious-gift-live-life-love-life/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) ## More by Mark Nepo > [“Often we find it easier to think our way around things rather than to feel our way through them:”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/often-we-find-it-easier-to-think-our-way-around-things-rather-than-to/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [When we don't get what we want, there's a legitimate grieving, and then the spiritual journey truly begins, because not getting what we want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/when-we-don-t-get-what-we-want-there-s-a-legitimate-grieving-and-then/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [Each soul on earth is complete unto itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/each-soul-on-earth-is-complete-unto-itself/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [“a living symbol that can call into my moment of sadness a deeper sense of plenitude and generosity that is always there, but not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/a-living-symbol-that-can-call-into-my-moment-of-sadness-a-deeper/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [“COMING OUT While there is much to do we are not here to do.   Under the want to problem-solve is the need to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/coming-out-while-there-is-much-to-do-we-are-not-here-to-do-under-the/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [The greatest thing we can do to be closer to our own lives and to the freshness of living is to open up again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/the-greatest-thing-we-can-do-to-be-closer-to-our-own-lives-and-to-the/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [For though we stubbornly cling, believing in our moment of hunger that there is no other possibility of love, we only have to let…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/for-though-we-stubbornly-cling-believing-in-our-moment-of-hunger-that/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [Perhaps the hardest thing I've learned, and still struggle with, is that I don't have to be finished in order to be whole.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/perhaps-the-hardest-thing-i-ve-learned-and-still-struggle-with-is/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [A successful creative expression is one in which the person who has expressed it was transformed for having encountered it](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/a-successful-creative-expression-is-one-in-which-the-person-who-has/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [No amount of thinking can stop thinking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/no-amount-of-thinking-can-stop-thinking/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [“Yet beneath all the talk of tragedy and grace, I have come to believe that we are destined to be opened by the living…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/yet-beneath-all-the-talk-of-tragedy-and-grace-i-have-come-to-believe/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [The glassblower knows: while in the heat of beginning, any shape is possible. 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I shake my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/i-don-t-know-how-to-say-it-exactly-only-i-want-to-die-as-myself-does/) [Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/) > [Physicist Isador Isaac Rabi, who won a Nobel Prize for inventing a technique that permitted scientists to probe the structure of atoms and molecules…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-saul-wurman/physicist-isador-isaac-rabi-who-won-a-nobel-prize-for-inventing-a/) [Richard Saul Wurman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-saul-wurman/) [Browse all 7,138 Asks quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/asks/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "What will you do today, knowing that you are one of the rarest forms of life to ever walk the Earth? How will you carry yourself? What will you do with your hands? ... Tomorrow you could die ... but today you are precious and rare and awake ... 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