Time for Time

Time for most can be a fleeting thing. It flows from the future to the present and into the past in a blink of an eye. People can hold on to that moment when they hold onto the thought or emotion of that moment; however, when it is not memorable, it is disheartening. Where did the time go? Was the time ill-spent on worry or trivial matters? Or, was it spent on a joyous event with loved ones?

Time is one of the most precious commodities, resources and gifts that a person has to treasure, to offer and to share. The best moments are those that make a deep impression upon people’s minds. Those moments where a mind is totally undivided and filled with intense focus or profound emotions. 

Time has a way of being fast or slow in my mind depending on the event. Anticipated major events in people’s lives never seem to arrive, yet when people get closer and closer to the time of the grand event, time flees in a blink of an eye. Project deadlines have a way of doing that. Why does time seems to go by so slow when waiting in a doctor’s office reception area, waiting at a traffic signal, sitting in a dentist’s chair during an oral examination, or while engaged in physical activity like fitness walking where one needs to do something for a certain amount of time. How often do children (and adults) wonder during a long trip and often vocalize, “are we there yet?”

It is all a matter of perspective. How does time feel to you when you are doing an activity you really enjoy? Have you been so totally enthralled in an activity that you lose your sense of time? Time passes by quickly when people do not pay attention to it. Time is not the focus of a person’s thoughts, the activity in which they are engaged has their undivided attention. 

Savoring the moment with loved ones should equally be memorable. To attend to them and really focus on their presence, attentively listening is really important. It is one of the most loving gestures a person can do for his or her loved ones, friends and family. It would be a loving gesture for people to extend their time to people they do not know such as taking an extra moment to hold open a door for someone or to take a moment to assist someone with packages. There are countless ways people can share their time with people they do not know (yet). 

The world would be so much better particularly in an individual’s immediate community, if a person simply gave an extra moment of time to everyone he or she interacts. Let it not be divided with thoughts and technology (mobile phones and other electronic devices). Some of the best experiences can be obtained when a person goes out and runs errands where he or she engage in meaningful conversations with other people in the store, in the check line and with store attendants. Everyone is truly a potential friend. It is within each individual’s power to make someone’s day (or not). 

Consider marking those times in your life by paying close attention. Make it memorable by focusing on the people you are with us at that time and on what you are doing. Take notice with all your senses to mark that moment in time. Time is too valuable to be allowed to fleet away without complete awareness. It is time to notice time.

Today, the book Creating Time by Marney K. Makridakis was launched on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I am delighted to share with you that I am a contributor to Creating Time. You will find my artwork and a few of my quotes in it. Creating Time is a beautifully laid out, interactive book with lots of thought shifting exercises around the concept of time. I invite you all to check it out: http://www.artellaland.com/time.html 

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