‘The last shirt has no pockets.’

Life is short, dear friend, Yes, this is true, although everything is relative of course. Still, our lives are short, very short – just ask any old person, who will tell you that only yesterday they were a kid.

Our days are numbered.

And when you face death, provided you have time to contemplate, you will be willing to give all the treasures of the world for just another day – even just another hour, or a few more moments of precious life.

With all our vanity we often forget that death awaits us just around the corner.

You would give all the treasures of the world for another day of life. If you think about it in this way, giving up cigarettes should become very easy. What a small price to pay and what an easy sacrifice, for you will gain many days of life, even years, and maybe decades.

Let us look at an exercise that is practiced in business plan economics. It is called NPV, meaning ‘Net Present Value’. It allows you to peep into the future and see what’s in it for you.

Can you fly on the wings of your imagination and visit yourself on your deathbed? Perhaps this is not a fun thing to think about, but that’s where we’re heading. Bring this moment to the present and let’s see what its value is.

Let’s make it as pleasant as possible. Imagine you are surrounded by your kids and grandchildren. If this is not appropriate, picture yourself in the environment that you’d like, surrounded by the people you love. Befriend that dying soul – it is you. Dwell in that moment and connect with the ‘you’ of the future.

Take a minute or two now, close your eyes and visualize …

Now come back and make the experience to the present and see what its value to you is.

Smoking can cut years, not days, off your life. You have dropped the habit now and showed tremendous amount of compassion for yourself. Life is short enough – ‘the last shirt has no pockets’ – we can not take anything with us and we do not know what awaits us.

All we have is life itself, and when it is ending we will do anything to grasp even one more breath; it is our nature.

You may think you are far from this moment, but in fact you are not. Remember death and make it present value and it will be easy to sacrifice those cigarettes for good.