He who becomes the slave of habit,<br />who follows the same routes every day,<br />who never changes pace,<br />who does not risk and change the color of his clothes,<br />who does not speak and does not experience,<br />dies slowly.<br /><br />He or she who shuns passion,<br />who prefers black on white,<br />dotting ones "it’s" rather than a bundle of emotions, the kind that make your eyes glimmer,<br />that turn a yawn into a smile,<br />that make the heart pound in the face of mistakes and feelings,<br />dies slowly.<br /><br />He or she who does not turn things topsy-turvy,<br />who is unhappy at work,<br />who does not risk certainty for uncertainty,<br />to thus follow a dream,<br />those who do not forego sound advice at least once in their lives,<br />die slowly.<br /><br />He who does not travel, who does not read,<br />who does not listen to music,<br />who does not find grace in himself,<br />she who does not find grace in herself,<br />dies slowly.<br /><br />He who slowly destroys his own self-esteem,<br />who does not allow himself to be helped,<br />who spends days on end complaining about his own bad luck, about the rain that never stops,<br />dies slowly.<br /><br />He or she who abandon a project before starting it, who fail to ask questions on subjects he doesn't know, he or she who don't reply when they are asked something they do know,<br />die slowly.<br /><br />Let's try and avoid death in small doses,<br />reminding oneself that being alive requires an effort far greater than the simple fact of breathing.<br /><br />Only a burning patience will lead<br />to the attainment of a splendid happiness.