Steve Frey
I can tell you exactly how much time it takes to get from my home to the recreation center for a workout.
I can also tell you how long it will take to get to Claytor Lake, Calfee Park, the movie theater or Sal’s. When you go to a place enough, you learn to measure out the increments of time you need to get there, but time is too precious to be used as a mere tool for measuring.
Henry David Thoreau wrote: “The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” Life and time are interchangeable here, and Thoreau’s statement is very profound.
We don’t often take time to think about it, but we all have just so much time here in this world, and the decisions we make have a tremendous impact on how we use our limited time.
The rock band Pink Floyd wrote a very thought-provoking song about time called, believe it or not, “Time.”
Sometimes we feel guilty about “frittering” away time when we look back on a day, a weekend or longer. We feel we haven’t accomplished all we should or could have.
At other times we feel like time is passing incredibly fast and we have to run around as quickly as we can to try and get everything done. In “Time,” Pink Floyd expresses that with these lyrics: “and you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it’s sinking, racing around to come up behind you again.”
As with most things in life, there is probably a middle way. That famous philosopher, Ferris Bueller, once opined, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.”
Thoreau would probably tell Ferris “right on” with his quote: “Simplify, simplify.”
Let’s take a baseball game, for example. Some people might find baseball slow and dull because the action is very intermittent. Others like me find it very relaxing and not boring at all.
It probably has something to do with having played the game for years and faithfully watching Curt Gowdy and Tony Kubek present the “Game of the Week” every Saturday afternoon in my youth.
I notice every pitch and check the scoreboard to see its speed. “Ah, that was a curveball. I wonder if he’ll throw a fastball or a slider next.” I know that is what the batter is thinking, too.
Yeah, every infield shift, throw to first or chance for a steal at second is part of the enjoyable strategy of the game.
It doesn’t hurt to be sitting in Calfee Park on a warm summer evening with a cold beverage and some peanuts, either.
It’s important to reflect on just how good life is to be enjoying a game on a night like that. It’s about being in that moment.
You can experience an immersion in life at any time. How about sitting on your front porch or the back deck, or even on a bench in the park.
Some would say it’s a waste of time, but if you find a way to block out any troubles or issues you’re worried about, you might discover the flowers, birds, clouds, well, you get the picture.
Are you wasting time? Is experiencing the world around you a waste of time? I know, I know—this is probably getting too metaphysical, but think about it!
You don’t have to be at a ball game or on your porch to practice mindfulness. You can do it at work, too.
As a middle manager, for example, you are always running around trying to accomplish everything you can in the time you have during the day.
Heck, I bet that as you read this, you are probably thinking about that report you have to get done, the angry client, or the personnel issue you need to tackle tomorrow. (I’m thinking about the deadline for getting this to the editor, but it’s all under control!)
Snap out of it, man (or woman)! You don’t have to worry 24/7/365 about work. You need to find a balance. A great book about that is “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey. He talks about ways to accomplish “first things first” and to find a balance.
Here’s a start at work—when you are talking to someone, make that other person your complete focus. Stop looking at the computer, the paperwork or the buzzing phone. Focus on only them. Listen intently to what they are saying. Let the world run at a million miles per minute around you, but give that person your complete attention.
Not only will you relax and get more done, but other people will be appreciative to have your undivided attention. They will realize that they are important to you and that you value them.
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.” This quote from Ecclesiastes or The Byrds, depending on your point of view, focuses on compartmentalizing things to the moment. There is a time for everything, but sometimes we forget that, and in our multitasking frenzy we let many, many things blend together, so we lose focus on that moment.
Thoreau also said, “Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.” Now we’re really getting into the weeds, but time is like an endless stream with eternity the only constant. Finding that slow but sure current in nature and taking time to relax and enjoy it helps us to get in tune with the world around us and ourselves.
Time flies, unless you can catch it and hold on to it. Time runs out when you dam up the stream with worry. Time is wasted only if we think it is.
You have one incredible, beautiful moment right now. Observe it, enjoy it and use it—it’s a gift.
Which reminds me of an old saying: “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.”
Open up your present.
Steve Frey is a writer and CEO of Ascendant Educational Services based in Radford.