Nothing Belongs to Us, Except Time
Practical advice for life from a 17th-century self-help book
A little green book sat on our bookshelf gathering dust for who knows how long. Neither I nor my husband has read it or remember how it made its way to our home. Today I finally picked it up to see what it’s about.
The book contains 300 aphorisms for navigating life safely and wisely. Flipping through its pages, I came across this one:
“Enjoy a little more, and strive a little less: others argue to the contrary; but happy leisure is worth more than drive, for nothing belongs to us, except time …”
Nothing belongs to us, except time.
I repeat this line several times. I feel hypnotized by these words. They took me back years ago when my meditation teacher told me,
“All that belongs to you is this moment. Nothing else belongs to you, not even your family.”
At the time what he said intrigued me, but it also triggered resistance. I thought to myself,
Why are you saying this? My family belongs to me. We belong to each other.
Today I think I understand what he meant. We belong to each other as long as time allows. Without time, without this moment, what would we be? If time is all we have…
