The Gift of Time
“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst” -William Penn
I have often thought of what an interesting construct time is. After all, everyone has the same amount of time in a day: 24 hours, or 86,400 seconds. Yet some very common complaints are: “I don’t have enough time” or “if I only had more time…”
Why is it that some days, or some hours in a day, seem to go really fast, while others seem to drag on for eternity? And why is it that some people seem to be capable of doing so much more in a day, while others struggle to accomplish anything at all? Furthermore, why does it all even matter?!
This is the weirdness of time.
Steve Jobs said “My favourite things in life don’t cost any money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.”
Well, here we are, forced to stay home with time on our hands.
Because of Covid-19, many of us are living, in a way, like monks, enclosed and isolated in our homes. But unlike the monks, we did not ask for or want this situation, nor it is one for which many of us were spiritually prepared.
https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/04/22/were-all-monks-now
Elizabeth Renzetti is a columnist and feature writer for The Globe and Mail. I have a secret writer crush on her as she so often echos my own sentiments:
How often do things change this radically and quickly? How often do we sit back and allow ourselves to contemplate existential questions, rather than how many carbs are in a plate of pasta?
Elizabeth Renzetti “A Fleeting Opportunity To Build A Better Future”, The Globe and Mail, April 25, 2020 edition.
During this pandemic, it is abundantly clear to me that most of my busyness is self-imposed. I really thought that everything I was doing was mostly necessary and served some higher purpose. After all, I run three businesses and a home, I am married, I have children, and I have friends to connect with…there is so much to do!
I still go to the office to work, but outside of that I am at home. Yup, just at home. Not at a meeting, or at a luncheon, or out for dinner, or at the pub, or at a class — just at home. My conclusion: it is lovely. I am still productive and keeping my businesses afloat, but overall my anxiety is almost non-existent.
I have studied the increase of anxiety in our culture and the possible etiologies. One of my hypotheses has been that life and technology are keeping us running at a clip we are simply not prepared for. However, the quote above from William Penn indicates the same dilemma, but he existed in the 1600’s. Hmmm, no tech then? Less stressors and demands in that time, I would have thought? Apparently not. Maybe it just really is how we use our time that is the key.
Without being disrespectful to the terrible effects that Covid-19 are having on the world at large, I would say that the imposed quarantine and slowing of our lives perhaps has some gifts. At the top of that list, the gift of time. Time to be with our families. Time to be in our homes more. Time to be in our gardens and walking in our neighbourhoods. Time to be still and connect with ourselves.
The more you know your true self, the deeper your soul awareness, the more powerful is your potential to manifest. We connect with pure, unbounded awareness every time we step away from our hurried lives and get silent, give yourself some space to just be, and embrace the stillness. -Oprah, from Energy of Attraction — Fall 2014, 21 Day Meditation
To be honest, I have never been a fan of meditation. Empty your mind and just be? Ridiculous! My brain is busy and I like it that way, thank you very much. However, with this gift of time, I have indeed been meditating each morning. It all started with an invitation from a girlfriend. “Join me on this 21 day meditation challenge. You must do it every day, or you are out!” I love a challenge, so in I was. Having somewhat of a competitive nature, I didn’t miss a day. Much to my surprise, I was enjoying this new start to my day. So, another 21 days it was. Now, I am on my third 21 day challenge. Apparently meditation is not that bad after all!
Prior to Covid-19, I have typically felt rushed — especially in the mornings. For some strange reason I now have plenty of time to do this meditation in the mornings, and on the days that I still go into the office, I also seem to have enough time for meditation and still get there on time. What a strange dynamic. I am perplexed. It almost seems like time has slowed, and that there is an abundance of it to get done what I need to. So much time.
What is clear to me now is how much time I was wasting doing those “important” things. What I am now worried about is that once this pandemic is over, I will return to that normal. This would be a perfect example of homeostasis, a concept I learned about in my psychology degree. Homeostasis in biology is the condition of optimal functioning. However, homeostasis psychologically is the tendency to resist change. Basically, a person or a systems’ crazy need to return to its normal — however dysfunctional that normal was — just to be back to the familiar. I really hope not.
“You look at your calendar from six weeks ago and it makes your heart ache to think about normal life — except what was normal was pretty awful for large portions of the population. I think people are acknowledging that this is a chance to do something about it. Whether we do is up to all of us together.”
-Dr. Susan Neiman, quoted in “A Fleeting Opportunity To Build A Better Future” by Elizabeth Renzetti, The Globe and Mail, April 25, 2020 edition.
Dr. Neiman is the author of Evil in Modern Thought, Learning From The Germans, Moral Clarity, and Why Grow Up? She is also the director of the Einstein Forum in Berlin.
I believe that we have only a small window of opportunity to embrace this gift of time before the world goes back to its normal pace. We will blink, and it will be one year from now, and the world will again be speeding along. People will be back in their cars, commuting to work. Various social invitations and commitments will again be filling our schedules. We will be complaining that we don’t have enough time for the special things and special people in our lives, let alone that stillness for ourselves.
If you are one of the fortunate ones that has been enjoying this forced down time, find a way to carry it on. Be intentional. If you presently have not been able to embrace any benefits, perhaps try to find ways each day to be still, to connect with that loved one, or maybe even clean out that drawer that has been calling you if that feels good. If you haven’t already, I would also recommend enjoying the recent concert One World Together At Home as I believe it can help inspire you. But please, do it before it’s too late, and again you find yourself with not enough time.
