Time. There we have four tiny letters forming
such a big word. But what is time exactly?
Things about time being said are: Time is
money. Time is a healer. I don’t have enough time. Etc. Often time is treated
as a possession, but in reality it is not. We are not able to physically hold
it in our hands. So maybe time is just an illusion?
Today we measure time in different ways. We
have years. We have seasons. We have hours, minutes, and seconds. And we use
clocks and calendars telling us the day and how late it is – assigning some
numbers. Also, it looks like many of us have become a slave of time, a slave of
these numbers. Constantly we do hear the clock ticking, be it the clock telling
us the hour, or be it the biological clock.
Diaries are filled with plenty of appointments
and activities. People feel they have to fulfill as many duties as possible in
order to be of value to society. But by doing so they actually put themselves
aside. Haven’t we learnt that quality means more than quantity? The same should
apply here.
We all have our qualities and talents and
should enjoy them.
Whenever we are doing something we really like,
it feels like time is flying away. Whereas when we are engaged in less
favourable activities, time seems to be going very slow – like a snailing
snail.
However, when we burden ourselves with too many
responsibilities within a too small frame of time, we’ll eventually get hit by
the mystery of the burn-out syndrome. The result is that our free time is not defined
by any quality at all anymore. Instead, we’ll get trapped in depression and a
total lack of inspiration, which would normally kick us forward to get active
with something – things we like. Hence, by pressuring ourselves with too much
quantity of doing something we actually and indirectly aim at the opposite
target. So stop just busying yourself with all these things. We should always
desire a certain balance and pay attention to quality.
This need to please everyone and hence being so
busy with everything at the same time does not do YOU any favours. It is not
wrong to take a day off and get a little lazy here, a little lazy there. By
doing so you are absolutely not decreasing your value to the world. Actually, you
might add to it. By taking time for yourself and concentrating on who you are
and on what you like doing, you are setting an example. The key to life still
is happiness, and only if we are happy ourselves we able to spread that happiness,
which reminds other people of being happy too. What would be the point of being
right here and right now only keeping (too) busy? This does not conclude
living. This simply means being. But we should all want to live and do the
thing we like without being pressured by society putting (too) many deadlines
on you. Deadlines – the first half of that word already says so much.
But we all have our own rhythms in this life.
Let’s take that biological clock, for example. This is only a tool to spread
panic. Someone once said women should have children by the age of 35. That is
in people’s heads. And after that you are too old. But looking around us today,
we are proven the exact opposite. Women start having children after the age of
40, rarely also later than that. And that is when society starts attacking. But
who are we to judge?
We all lead different lives writing different
life stories, and we all age differently. Just put two random people of the
same age next to each other. Let’s use the example with two people at the age
of 30. But looking at them, we are not able to tell how old they really are.
With one of them we guess (s)he is at his/her early twenties, whereas with the
other person we say (s)he is nearly 40. But according to some calendar this
person is 30 years of age. To everyone time means something completely
different, and we use it in so many different ways. Hence, time and age should
not be defined by some numbers that we were once assigned. And a saying goes:
You are as old as you feel. So, secretly we all know more about time than we
can truly fathom.
Measuring time pretty much is a tool used to
organize ourselves. That way we keep our appointments etc. Very many years ago
it helped improving trade and economy. Today, we cannot imagine a life without
it. We have schedules for everything, which has widened possibilities of
getting from one place to another in a shorter frame of time. But still, this
is just a tool. Very many years ago people might not have worried about things
like that. Their journeys took longer, but that did not decrease the value of
spending time. These days we are such a fast living society. We pass by things
and people and do not even realize it. We do not see the tree right in front of
us. We do not hear the bird singing just for us in the morning. We simply rush.
And we event more and more tools to keep rushing. But we must remember to
breathe and also feel alive. It is a gift to ourselves if we decide to slow
down and simply be there for us. Every once in a while we should forget about
this fourth dimension. We need to be without this pressure – just like when we
go on vacation.
A trip away simply shows that we then try to
run away from time and the pressures it seems to bring. We are yearning for
more freedom and less boundaries. We should even do a little of that when we in
the circle of this everyday life. Slowing down is soothing the soul. Every now
and then we need stop to link everything we do to time. Just go out there and
enjoy being you. This is preciousness with value.
So, can we say what time is exactly? Not really,
I guess. It has always been there. But it is really down to all of us
individually what we do with it , how we use it and how serious we take this business of these
assigned numbers. It is down to all of us individually how and how much value
we place in our lives. As long as we remember that our own individual happiness
is the key to life we shall succeed! It is not time that is pressuring or
ruling us, it is only us ourselves, the human beings we are. It is not time
that can heal us, it is only us ourselves. It is not time that equals money and
making it, it is only us ourselves (if that is what we desire). It is not time
that defines the value of us, it is only us ourselves. It is not time that
makes us do this and that etc., it is only us ourselves.
In its very own way time exists in this
material world. On a spiritual level, however, it is an illusion.
