“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” - Lao Tzu
Where did we go wrong?
It’s not where you might think.
Okay, maybe it is. I agree that the speed of life has hit warp ten, and
in the immortal words of Montgomery Scott, “we’re going nowhere mighty fast.”
Why is that? Why do we continually lament a loss of time in which to get
things done? There is so much on everyone’s plate you’d think we’d accomplish something,
but we end up spinning in circles, abusing regulated substances and each other,
and getting no further ahead than our next paycheque.
So much for the pursuit of happiness.
Maybe we’re trying to do too much in too little time.
Or maybe it’s how we look at time itself. We view it as a limited
commodity when we probably shouldn’t view at it as anything. We certainly
shouldn’t regard it as linear. It’s not linear. It’s cyclical. Ask anyone with
an inbox: you can’t empty the darned thing before it’s refilled as if by
(black) magic. Time is the same. You can’t run out of it; it’s always there.
Better still, it’s there for you. In abundance. Honest. But if
you believe you don’t have enough of it, or that you’ll run out of it, guess
what? You don’t and you will.
I know, I know. How does this explain the difference between a dragging
workday and a Mach speed weekend? Believe it or not, the same number of hours
exists in a Tuesday as in a Saturday. I’m beginning to suspect that managing
time effectively has more to do with how aware I am in the present moment. Not
an hour or a day or a week from now, but right now.
Tuesday drags because I’m thinking about the weekend past or the weekend
future rather than about what I’m doing at the moment. Once I focus on a
project, time resumes its normal course. Not only does the day end sooner, I
finish a task I initially feared wouldn’t get done due to—duh—lack of time!
By the same token, Saturday seems a lot shorter when I spend it thinking
about work on Monday. I’m amazed at what I can accomplish on a weekend when I
focus on the weekend itself rather than the dwindling time within it.
So the next time you’re worried about the time you don’t have, flip it
to your advantage. Pay attention to the moment and repeat after me:
“I have all the time I need.”
And you will!
With love,
'I have all the time I need. I have all the time I need. I have all the time I need." So chants the old Bean who now has to be awake at 4:30am to get to work. I promise you, I'm paying attention. It's stupid-o'clock when I'm up, laundered and out the door but I've already read a book of short stories on my commute and have started a re-read of 'Unless' by Carol Shields (because Catherine Keener made a film of the book and it is appearing at TIFF!). I almost find the earlier hour makes me appreciate a moment a little more. If that makes sense. But make no mistake, Bean is snoring by 9pm. Haha!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to my bedtime, too! Sad part is, I'm up two hours after you and still zonked by 9:00 p.m., ha ha!
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