Time to Think about Time

I’ve always had a fascination with time and been obsessed with punctuality, although there have been the odd few occasions, I must confess, when I have been uncharacteristically adrift! Personally, I believe time is one of the most precious resources that we have.

It is a measure of duration, from the smallest unit of time currently measurable - an attosecond (one millionth of a millionth of a millionth of a second!) to the largest unit of time - a millennium.

Time has been measured throughout the ages using a multitude of time-keeping devices from sundials, water clocks, hourglasses to modern day chronometers; and calendars have allowed man to track the passing of days, weeks, months, seasons and years.

Five billion years from now, the sun will expire and our universe will be no more. It will mean mankind finding an alternative home or the end of time for us. For sure, we needn’t dwell on that final event, for it is far far away from us in the very distant future. Our existence in comparison is relatively transient, nonetheless, our limited time of one life must be made the most of. We all have been given the privilege of one life and it is our responsibility to live that life in the best way we can.

The span of our life is limited from cradle to grave, and our longevity is in someway a lottery because it depends on our genetics and on the environment where we are raised.

Time is not an unlimited for us and our time here on Earth has been pre-determined for each of us. From the moment we’re conceived until we draw our final breath - that is our life. We neither get the choice about being brought into the world nor the choice when we leave this world, but we do get to choose what happens in between.

Time is irreplaceable and once used, or wasted, can never be regained, as my dear departed Maths teacher - Mr Pinney, used to say. We cannot rewind the hands of time, as much as we’d like to, so we must use our time prudently and not squander this precious resource.

Time helps us to identify age - how old someone or something is. We need it to know the time of day and when to do something and for how long.

Our life is a series of stages from our gestation to infancy, from early childhood to adolescence, from young adulthood to our mid-life, from our ‘senior’ years to our final expiration. During each stage, we’ll use our time for many different purposes; from discovering the wonders of the world for the first time to learning about life at school; from working for a living, to playing - to relax ourselves during our years of work; to peacefully enjoying the autumn of our lives till our final resting.

Each day, we’re all blessed with an equal amount of time at our disposal - 86,400s. We spend roughly a third of our lives - working, another third - sleeping, and the final third for whatever else we choose to do.

During our day, there will be moments of time for eating, learning, working, thinking, playing, smiling, laughing, dreaming, giving and being with our family and friends. There is a time for everything.

As you read this article you’re in the present moment of time, and as the words pass you by, they become the past; and as your eyes fall on the next words, those future ideas on paper become your present thoughts.

Looking back, we can reflect and learn lessons from our past, and whilst we live in the present, we can plan our future.

We mustn’t dwell upon the past more than we should, or always be thinking about the future; we must live with our minds in the present, otherwise our present will escape from us unused and wasted, and only die away into our past. The present is a gift of time so we must learn to use it wisely.

Always in a rush? A rush to where and why? And what will you do after your rush to get there? Rush more to get through your day then rush to join the rush hour in the rush to get home?  And the rest of the week the same again until the weekend arrives? Rushing for what? An early grave? What a life? 

On occasion, I still hear, the unsavoury and distasteful saying, ‘Time is money,’ and I am loathe to say this, but I have to unfortunately agree. Money does make the world go round, and is a necessity for most of us to survive and make ends meet, but it doesn’t have to dominate our lives.

Lao-Tzu, once quoted:

‘The man who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.’

I’d suggest you slowly re-read that last sentence a few times, just to allow it to sink into your sub-conscious.

We always seem to think that we never have enough, and always wanting for more - why? It’s in our nature to want more but we have to want more of the right things in life, and it’s not material possession that will curb our insatiable appetite for more.

Materialism will only satisfy our desires for a limited period of time, in much the same way, that a new toy keeps a young child engaged for a while until he loses interest. We human beings must value and appreciate what we have now, and un-learn the habit of craving for things we don’t always need. I’m not saying that we need to live a complete life of thrift but to appreciate there’s more to life than our feverish drive for money and materialism. Some of the simplest things in life are the ones that are priceless, for example - no one needs to buy a ticket to watch a beautiful sunset. We can savour life without the need to madly chase money. An unhealthy life of the rat race and the forever chasing our tails is soul-destroying. Life is beautiful and should be treated with the utmost respect.

George Bernard Shaw once said:

‘We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.’

If we’re satisfied with what we need, instead of forever wanting for more, then we wouldn’t have to work and earn so much, to pay for our ‘wants.’ To not need to earn more, would mean, we could work less or not so hard; and that would mean, we could have more time to play. And having more time to play, keeps us young in mind and body.

Life is about balance and there is a fine balance between health and sickness. We need to adopt a healthy balance between our work and play.

Having a livelihood is important for us to earn our living to put food on the table and pay for our bills ... but we shouldn’t forget the importance of play, as it is a time for recreation - a time to re-create ourselves and restore ourselves for our labour, that earns our living. Not to pay heed, to our need for rest, will result in stress, burnout and illness leading to an early grave.

When I hear people say, they don’t have time to do something, it makes me sometimes think and re-interpret those words as, ‘I don’t want to give time to that.’ If people really really want to do something, then they can, and all they need is to ‘make time’ for it. I really don’t like that expression, ‘make time.’ How on earth can we make time? In the literal sense, it’s impossible and is why that turn of phrase sits a little uncomfortably with me. It’s fine, as we all know what it means, but I’d much prefer to use the phrase, ‘give time’ rather than ‘make time’ for something.

One second of time may not be dissimilar from the next, but time can certainly feel like it’s dragging or flying by sometimes. If we’re bored to death in what we’re doing, then time will surely seem like it’s come to a standstill; on the other hand, if we’re enjoying what we’re doing, then we forget about time and it just seems to breeze by.

It’s interesting to note that one in two of us don’t particularly enjoy our work. That’s a shocking and surprising statement because it shows half of us are dissatisfied, bored and wasting our precious lives away. Instead of being indifferent towards our work, we should discover what we’re passionate about and do that, and in that way, our time will pass swiftly and purposefully, rather than die away slowly and without purpose.

Time can be spelt as L-O-V-E because when we give someone our time we’re giving them a part of of our life, which can never be returned to us. Let me explain by way of example, the time we dedicate to our family and friends is precious; in essence it’s an expression of love for them. The more of our time we give, the more of ourselves and our love we give. Giving our time to someone is giving a part of our life away. That gift of time is love.

When we were young we used to love receiving presents. Can you recall the feeling that you felt when someone gave you a gift? We all had a sense of great excitement and wore a huge smile. Presents are great, aren’t they?

There are many children who receive many presents - But does it always make them happy? Not always.

Some of us may substitute our presence with presents to make up for our absence. Our children and loved ones are more in need of our presence than our presents. Give them your time and you demonstrate your love for them. Children grow up fast and before you know it, their childhood is over. Spend as much as time as you can with them, and your investment of time will be richly rewarded. Children are only ever young once; show them you care now, and they will surely return that care lovingly, and without condition.

Time can also be spelt as L-I-F-E because when we give time to our spouse/partner, it’s giving love; and when two people give love to each other, they create LIFE. Life is the beauty created from our love, and is our future - our most precious resource - our children. They are our time, our love, our life and our future.

Time is love and love is life and life is time; and for those who truly love life and their family and friends, time is not only money - but also many things else.

What will do with your ‘3 score and 10 years’? Will you make the most of your time? Will your life pass through you or just pass by you?

Don’t be one of the living dead, who allow their life to pass by quickly and only wake up when it’s too late. Make your one life count - to make a difference to your life, your loved ones and the world around you.

‘Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.’ Hilary Cooper

The number of breaths that we take in our life time is unknown to each of us, but the number of breath-taking moments we can have - that’s in our hands.

Don’t put off to tomorrow, what you can do today, for who knows what tomorrow may bring. Time flies so seize the day, do what you love with passion, and leave behind beautiful and everlasting memories for those to remember, that you did something with your life - something to be proud of.

Time is fleeting so will you grasp it and create a beautiful and everlasting memory for others to remember that your life meant something?