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Tuesday, August 19, 2014

TIME. Where does it go?

The days come and the days go.
What do we make of those days?
Am I too busy to notice the little nuances in life?
Perhaps in days gone by, I was. But now living in the middle of nowhere, with no kids to raise, a job that is done mostly by phone and the internet, I tend to notice things more.

Why is that so?
Why are we so busy that we don't stop to appreciate even the tiniest things in our lives? Rushing to get to the next place, do the next task, meet the next person.
For what? More rushing? More hurrying?
And does rushing get us anywhere faster? Or do we become irritated, agitated as we sit in traffic, wait in lines at the store, wait for our kids to get out of school so that we can "rush" them to their next activity?
Why are we so rushed?

Gosh, I remember the days- and now shudder, when I was "too busy" to play ball with my son, to have another tea party with my daughters. What I wouldn't do to have a "do-over" for those years.
Thankfully, as a Grammy, I do get to do that again. And this time, I am not rushed, not too busy to stop and play.

How many times do you read the same book to your child? Do you wish it was a different book, or a different night and it was hubby's turn to read? Do you ever see the excitement, the expectation, the joy in your child's face as you read that book over and over again? They know the story. They know it by heart. And yet, it still captures them.

When was the last time you let something really capture your attention? 
Living in the mountains, I have been encaptured by the beauty of clouds. Those misty spatterings of moisture that dot the skies with absolutely amazing patterns. Hardly a day goes by when I am not looking for, or mesmerized by cloud formations.
Was I too busy to see them in the city? Or is it much more pronounced in the mountains?
It is the same with the stars at night. I know that the stars were not as clear and distinct in the city, but here on a dark night, the sky is brilliantly strewn with stars and galaxies that are breathless to see- if we only took the time.

Why is that we think we have to rush everywhere and through everything? When our children, and nature cry out to be noticed and enjoyed.
Why do we miss so much in the hustle of getting somewhere else?
And yet we can spend hours upon hours on the internet, reading blog after blog, or spend so much time watching TV, mindless tv.

What are you doing with your time?
How are you spending it?
The majority of us, work or want to be working. And then what do we do? We complain about working too much and we don't stop thinking about our work.
For those of us who can, we need to leave work at work.

We need to begin to enjoy life again. To see the newness of each day instead of thinking its the same old, same old; day in and day out.

How do we do this?
By beginning slowly.
Setting aside a day or a half a day to just be. To be present wherever we are. To stop and take the time to play with our kiddos. Believe me, you will never regret that time, but chances are you will regret the time you spent working too long, too late and missed out on your family.
To do something you enjoy. Whether it be reading or running or riding a bike, or planting the next phase of your garden, to relish the hobby you haven't had time for. To take a day trip to somewhere you have wanted to visit for awhile. To take a nap. To plan a vacation where you can enjoy what you see instead of rushing to the next place.

Last week, I took my two grandsons to the San Francisco Zoo. They have been to the zoo recently but I could not remember the last time I had been. We walked by so many animals. We read all the signs that educated us. We laughed and laughed at the wolverines. We were mesmerized by the lions and tigers and their beauty and their size; and decided we didn't want to meet one face to face outside of the zoo. We watched the grizzly bears eat lunch and talked about the differences between them and the polar bears we saw. We waited to see the chimps -who spent a bit of time hiding from us. We saw a red panda. We laughed at the monkeys and thought how much fun it would be to swing from tree to tree.
I even agreed to go to the Insect section and was again afraid of tarantulas and reminded that I am not a bug person. But we spent our time leisurely and enjoyed each exhibit. We were not rushed and it was glorious!

Our time is our time. We get to decide how we will spend it, what we will do with it.
PLEASE don't squander the time you have. It is too precious, too valuable to waste on the non important stuff.
Enjoy your family, enjoy your friends, enjoy your life.

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