Life feels solid while you are inside it, and most of that solidity is borrowed from habit. Seen from any distance, the whole of it is short and strangely light, more like something passing through than something fixed in place. That is not a reason to care less. Brevity is what makes an ordinary afternoon worth anything at all.

Pick one thing today that you treat as permanent scenery: a room, a person at the table, a walk you take without noticing. Give it your attention as though you were seeing it once. That is usually closer to true.