How do you keep time? A watch? The readout on your phone or computer? Is time really something you can keep?
How do you save time? Microwaveable dinners? Making phone calls while you drive? Where do you keep the time that you have saved?
In this world of keeping time and saving time, how will you simply take time?
In this world of keeping time and saving time, how will you simply take time?… I “take time” wherever I can find it! I have so many schedules – appointments, medications, favourite TV shows, various community events, the local church I attend, and my time here at UUA-CLF… I try to use every spare second as a pocket of Serenity, that I can dive into. But, I am hard on myself, when I get caught up in ranting and raving against someone/thing — forgetting all about my need for that pool of calm. I have trained, over these many years; and i can flow into a state of Serenity within two breaths … when I remember to.
IMHO, Taking time can best be achieved through living a simple, balanced, organized lifestyle. Thoreau described it as deliberate living.
“…I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only
the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to
teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did
not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish
to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to
live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and
Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad
swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its
lowest terms…” From Walden by Henry David Thoreau
I have to admit that I am not always successful at achieving this, but I believe there is great value to be gained from aiming high in life. When I become distracted, the paragraph above reminds me of what really matters most.