Time
I believe the most valuable element of life is time itself. Since we live lives which are bound by time, it is the currency of our experience. How we choose to use or misuse our time determines the quality and depth of our human experience. And, our use of our time is our choice, moment by moment.
In terms of time, we are all like trust-fund babies when we are young. We have a wealth of time in The Bank of the Future, which seems to hold deep vaults of inexhaustible time. As we mature through the joys and sorrows of adolescence and early adulthood, most of us are far from frugal with our time. Then we reach middle age.
The slow understanding and acknowledgment that time is limited makes most of us more serious and introspective. We evaluate our use of time. We begin to use it more consciously. The more conscious we become about time, the more precious it seems. There never seems to be enough of it in a day, if we are engaged and active.
Then, with illness and old age, time becomes a mixed blessing. Old bodies hurt. Pain can make time drag. Slower minds find it harder to concentrate. Distraction and depression are present dangers to be avoided by greater effort and determination to stay active and engaged in a world that seems to be zipping by at breakneck speed. We understand that time cannot be bought or sold. We see the future, when our time will end.
As a person who has been in the company of many dying people in my professional life, I have been aware of the value of time for decades. I still feel challenged each day to use my time, this precious resource, consciously and to some valuable purpose. I have little or no time for fretting about time or anything else. I try to stay in the moment, cherishing, as I dsipense, the tiny coins that make up the greater wealth of my time. I carefully assess the value of the experiences, on which I am spending my time. If I waste my time on poor experience, there is no exchange or refund.
So, part of my daily humanist practice is a commitment to myself to keep track of and to honestly assess the quality of the experiences of the days. I find that my mindful presence in the moments of each day makes decisions about how to best spend my time much easier.
In terms of time, we are all like trust-fund babies when we are young. We have a wealth of time in The Bank of the Future, which seems to hold deep vaults of inexhaustible time. As we mature through the joys and sorrows of adolescence and early adulthood, most of us are far from frugal with our time. Then we reach middle age.
The slow understanding and acknowledgment that time is limited makes most of us more serious and introspective. We evaluate our use of time. We begin to use it more consciously. The more conscious we become about time, the more precious it seems. There never seems to be enough of it in a day, if we are engaged and active.
Then, with illness and old age, time becomes a mixed blessing. Old bodies hurt. Pain can make time drag. Slower minds find it harder to concentrate. Distraction and depression are present dangers to be avoided by greater effort and determination to stay active and engaged in a world that seems to be zipping by at breakneck speed. We understand that time cannot be bought or sold. We see the future, when our time will end. As a person who has been in the company of many dying people in my professional life, I have been aware of the value of time for decades. I still feel challenged each day to use my time, this precious resource, consciously and to some valuable purpose. I have little or no time for fretting about time or anything else. I try to stay in the moment, cherishing, as I dsipense, the tiny coins that make up the greater wealth of my time. I carefully assess the value of the experiences, on which I am spending my time. If I waste my time on poor experience, there is no exchange or refund.
So, part of my daily humanist practice is a commitment to myself to keep track of and to honestly assess the quality of the experiences of the days. I find that my mindful presence in the moments of each day makes decisions about how to best spend my time much easier.
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