Time Crunches
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I've
been on a calendar, but I've never been on time.
Marilyn
Monroe
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Do
you live in the present moment? Chances are that at this very
moment you are doing several things...surfing the web, cooking
dinner, thinking about your bills, your laundry, your life. Whatever
you are doing now, there is always something else you could-should-would
be doing, and surely all would be acheived if-only you had the
time.
Time is a tricky thing, and largely exists in the
eye of the beholder. Remember when you were a kid and time just
seemed to crawl? Now the older you get, the faster and faster
time moves forward, hurling us towards the invitable: old age
and death. It's no wonder we procrastinate when every step forward
feels like one step closer to the end.
The truth is no one knows when that end may come.
A few years ago I lost my brother. He was 32 years old and it
forever changed the way that I look at my time on earth. When
I am stuck in the past or daydreaming of a brighter future, I
remember this little saying and it helps me to put things into
perspective:
The Past is history,
The Future, a mystery,
Today is a gift,
That's why they call
it the Present.
So carpe diem! The day is yours so cherish it like
the precious gift that it is. Here are some ways you can honor
your time and make more of it:
-
Slow
Down
-
Concentrate
on one thing at a time
-
Make
whatever you are doing at the moment the most important thing
in the world
-
Pretend
you do have all the time in the world and spirit will make it
so
-
Create
"sacred time" in your life and make a commitment to
yourself to keep it
A
good way to start having more time is to start affirming
it is true. Next time you hear yourself say "I don't have
enough time, try countering those thoughts with some new ideas.
Make "I am always in the right place, doing the right
thing, at the right time," your mantra. This is most
helpful when you are running late...instead of anticipating
an agitated response when you arrive, or running through your
list of excuses for being late, repeat your affirmation.
I
found that once I began letting go of being on time and making
excuses for being late...I stopped being late! By always knowing
I was "in the right place doing the right thing at the
right time" I relaxed and the world seemed to open up and
support my beliefs. The traffic magically lifted, the parking
space opened up right in front, and time became less important
to manuevering through my daily life.
When
you hurry through life, rushing from one appointment to the
next, you have no idea what wonderful subtextures you miss in
the blur. It's not just taking the time to smell the flowers...It's
having the time of your life and living it too. Hurry,
and cramming as many activities as possible into time, are a
distinctively American disease, and are something I would encourage
anyone (not just the bright) to step out of. Move to a slower
tempo, or no measured tempo. Life is too short to live in a
hurry.
It's About Time
Since the dawn of Time, we've tried to understand
its nature in order to feel like we had some control over
it.
Time's mystery is difficult for most of us to appreciate because
we seem to have so little of it. Although we've been all given
the same twenty-four hours each day, it doesn't seem to go
very far, and we each seem to have a different reality when
it comes to time.
For centuries those with time on their hands - saints, poets,
mystics, masters, sages, and philosophers - have pondered
time's enigma. They've discovered her duality. As the sculptor
and poet Henry Van Dyke explains: "Time is too slow for
those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for
those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice". Einstein
proved the relativity of time, it's perspective reality. Slow
and swift are time's parallel identities, the yin and yang
of existence.
The Greeks had two words for time. Chronos and Kairos. Chronos
is the base word for chronological. It is the time we measure
by clocks and calendars and is always linear, orderly, quantifiable
and mechanical. Kairotic time is organic, rhythmic, bodily,
leisurely and aperiodic; it is the inner cadenc of life. Sam
Keen tells us:
"The realm of spirit operates on Kairotic rather than
chronological time...There is no way to cultivate your soul
in a hurry...the habit of rushing destroys the long and gentle
rhythms of breathing that are necessary for inspired thinking
and surrendering to the suprising opportunities that appear
as soon as we stop trying to fit our lives into a plan.
We are looking for a marriage of Chronos and Kairos, not
abstinence from either. Fast and slow time are the right and
left hemispheres of the incarnate spirit. Be leisurely and
act vigorously."
We exist in chronos. We long for Kairos. That's our duality.
Chronos requires speed so that it won't be wasted. Kairos
requires space so that it might be savored. We do in chronos.
In kairos we are allowed to be.
Kairos is delicately woven into Chronos. The seasons are
the fabric of Kairos wrapped around our lives. Though time
moves forward in a linear fashion, it is cyclical. The wheel
turns and comes around and around with another opportunity
to experience the depth of our existence. Moving closer to
the hub, time is measured in weeks...six days then a pause
for spirit. Closer still are the days. 12 hours then a pause
for sleep. Moving down to the hours, minutes, and seconds
that are made up by moments...each an opportunity to be fully
present and alive.
We know kairos in those moments: when meditating or praying;
when lost in music's rapture or literature's reverie; when
planting bulbs or inhaling deeply of a flowers fragrance;
when watching over a sleeping child, when laughing over the
comics together in bed on a rainy morning;, when delighting
in a sunset; when exulting in our passions. We know joy in
kairos, glimpse beauty in kairos, remember what it means to
be alive in kairos, reconnect with our Divinity in kairos.
It only takes a moment to cross over from chronos into kairos,
but it does take a moment. All that kairos asks is our willingness
to stop long enough to hear the music of the spirit. Today,
be willing to join in the dance.
The
Daffodil Principle:
A Timely Tale
Several
times my daughter, Carolyn, had telephoned to say, "Mother,
you must come see the daffodils before they are over." I wanted
to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead.
"I will come next Tuesday," I promised, a little reluctantly,
on her third call.
Next
Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and
so I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house
and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said, "Forget the
daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in the clouds and
fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these
children that I want to see bad enough to drive another inch!"
My
daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this all the
time, Mother." "Well, you won't get me back on the road until
it clears, and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her.
"I was hoping you'd take me over to the garage to pick up
my car," she said. "How far will we have to drive?" "Just
a few blocks," Carolyn said. "I'll drive. I'm used to this."
After several minutes, I had to ask, "Where are we going?
This isn't the way to the garage!" "We're going to my garage
the long way," Carolyn smiled, "by way of the daffodils."
"Carolyn," I said sternly, "please turn around." "It's all
right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself
if you miss this experience."
After
about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and
I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw
a hand lettered sign that read, "Daffodil Garden." We got
out of the car and each took a child's hand, and I followed
Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a corner of the path,
and I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious
sight. It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of
gold and poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes.
The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns great
ribbons and swaths of deep orange, white, lemon yellow, salmon
pink, saffron, and butter yellow. Each different colored variety
was planted as a group so that it swirled and flowed like
its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres
of flowers.
"But
who has done this?" I asked Carolyn. "It's just one woman,"
Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home."
Carolyn pointed to a well kept "A" frame house that looked
small and modest in the midst of all that glory.
We
walked up to the house. On the patio, we saw a poster. "Answers
to the Questions I Know You Are Asking!" was the headline.
The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs," it read.
The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman. Two hands,
two feet, and very little brain." The third answer was, "Began
in 1958." There it was, The Daffodil Principle.
For
me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought
of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years
before, had begun one bulb at a time-to bring her vision of
beauty and joy to an obscure mountain top. Still, just planting
one bulb at a time, year after year, had changed the world.
This unknown woman had forever changed the world in which
she lived. She had created something of ineffable (indescribable)
magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.
The
principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest
principles of celebration. That is, learning to move toward
our goals and desires one step at a time, often just one baby
step at a time, and learning to love the doing, learning to
use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces
of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will
find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the
world. "It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn.
"What might I, forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one
bulb at a time' through all those years. Just think what I
might have been able to achieve!"
My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual
direct way. "Start tomorrow," she said. It's so pointless
to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make
learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret
is to only ask, "How can I put this to use today?" -Author
Unknown
We
convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married,
have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the
kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they
are. After that, we're frustrated that we have teenagers to
deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of
that stage. We tell ourselves that our life will be complete
when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get
a nicer car, when we are able to go on a nice vacation, or
when we retire. The truth is there's no better time to be
happy than right now. If not now, when? Your life will always
be filled with challenges. It's best to admit this to yourself
and decide to be happy anyway. Ah, thought you'd like this
one, it's true to life and all that applies! Happiness is
the way. So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure
it more because you shared it with someone special, special
enough to spend your time with... and remember that time waits
for none. So, stop waiting until...your car or home is paid
off...you get a new car or home...your kids leave the house...you
go back to school...you finish school...you lose 10 lbs...you
gain 10 lbs...you get married...you get a divorce...you have
kids...you retire...summer...spring...winter...fall...you
die...There is no better time than right now to be happy.
Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So work like you
don't need money. Love like you've never been hurt. And, dance
like no one's watching.
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