Saturday, July 31, 2010

Where Does the Time Go?

Someone told me once that we have all the time there is.

That's a powerful statement,somehow indicating we have some control over our time. Of course we don't know when our time is up. As my mother's doctor told me when she was to undergo surgery at the age of 95, "we never know what the terminal event will be...". Is someone in charge of our last event? Is there a big MSN Calendar that has my name and date and time of departure? Maybe not; I rather think our lives aren't micromanaged to that extent. But before that terminal event we do have control of how we spend our time and it is based on the choices we have made throughout our life. If you think that everybody but you has control of your time, it's time for you to take some of that control back. Make conscious choices every day based on what is important to you.

I made a conscious choice to post everyday, because I felt the subject matter of this blog had merit. I think I lasted eight days before I lost the thread of my commitment. No one's fault but my own. I did disappoint myself, but I didn't beat myself up. I've learned to be kind to myself and to forgive my shortcomings. When we say we don't have time for something, what we are really saying is that we don't want to do that thing. So why did I not want to do something I felt was important. Sorry, I don't have an answer. Am I lazy? Maybe. Do I procrastinate? Always. Do I over-schedule my time? Frequently. Am I going to do better? I sincerely hope so.

So here I am again, making a commitment to post everyday. Let's see how that goes.

Sharon

2 comments:

  1. My father once told me a story about how his father had remarked to him how startled he was to look in a mirror and see an old man staring back at him. My grandfather couldn't imagine where the time had gone and how that old man replaced the young one he felt he still was. My father was telling this story about my grandfather because he now felt the truth of it since an old man had replaced the young one in the mirror for him too. I recently repeated this same story to my two children.

    It's funny how when I heard this from my father many years ago it was interesting but not particularly meaningful. I saw that same feeling reflected in my children's eyes when I related it to them. There are so many adages about the passage of time I am almost certain you could fill an entire book with them. I suppose the real lesson isn't that an old person ultimately replaces us in the mirror but that time is precious and should be spent with care. For me the only truly wasted time is time spent unhappily. Sometimes it is unavoidable but I wonder how much of it could be avoided if we were more aware.

    Whew... too much pondering for a beautiful Saturday afternoon!

    Janet

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  2. Janet,
    You write really well. Maybe you should blog. I'd like to read what you have to say. And thank you for reading what I have to say.
    Sharon

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