Every year, it seems as though I unwrap a Christmas present which reveals itself to be an appointment book. Some might call it a daily planner. I simply smile and offer the customary head nod, but when I return home I proceed to toss that planner into the back of my closet. About a year later, when I finally decide to clean out that closet, I always find the same planner which has accumulated nothing but dust over the course of a year.

Now, I get why some people use these daily planners and I can see how they play a valuable part in their everyday lives. But I could never bring myself to map out my own life. Some people feel comfortable and safe having an entire week of their lives already planned out. They find solace in the fact that they know exactly what is coming next. However, a life without any surprises is no life at all, but rather an ongoing form of monotony.

Spontaneity is perhaps one of the greatest treasures on this earth. So why not continue to open an unexpected treasure each day as opposed to opening the same old daily planner? For within that daily treasure of spontaneity, you will find precious jewels in the form of unexpected emotions.

A coy smile from an unexpected admirer might bring a ruby shade of red to your cheeks. An embarrassing moment will also compel that same shade to paint your face. Unplanned moments have a habit of decorating our cheeks with a natural blush. And the time for such decorations can never be anticipated, let alone penciled in a book.

There are also times over the course of a week when  the smothering clouds depart from the heavens and leave us with a breathtaking view of an endless sapphire sky. One cannot help but glance up above and smile as the sun smiles back down upon us. At times, our lives are quite similar to that portrait. For there are instances when our agendas are completely clear and there is time for only ourselves. However brief that time may be, one can't help but smile during those moments when the hands of time belong solely to you. For such a miraculous moment to occur, a page in an appointment book must be completely bare.

But there is not always such a blissful connotation to every new jewel of the day. Certain events force our emotions to mutate into the form of a black onyx. Anger, frustration and doubt fuel this emotion, an emotion no one would ever schedule in any time slot. Yet, dealing with these onyxs is an integral part of life. If we cannot cast these dark stones out to sea, we will never be able to look up and relish the rapture of a sapphire sky.

Envious jewels of green will also simmer inside of us as we covet that which another possesses. These emeralds tend to cloud our judgment and coax us into believing there are things in this world we truly need. Those moments when we are consumed by such an emotion will never be scripted in a book. In fact, those moments are ones we could all do without, yet our learned desire for material wealth sometimes paints out entire day green even if it does not read that way in our planner.

So at the end of each day, we can choose to look forward to tomorrow with the help of a daily planner. However, that planner will not be too much of a help at all. For no matter how much we try to script the course of our lives, we cannot anticipate the rubies, sapphires, onyxs and emeralds that will all come our way. But that is the beauty of life, it is one large treasure with many exotic jewels. And we have no map with which to find those jewels. Quite often, it is the jewels that find us.