Time is just plain slippery, a most elusive concept which none of us can fully grasp. Is it simply a human-made concoction to structure our days, lives or journeys down to the minute? As I sit down to write just now, a hummingbird joins in near the feeder, her little heart beating 1,260 beats per minute at this time of day. (This rate drastically slows down in the colder hours.) Can we even fathom that pulse in our human lives? And how many beats will she get before the last?
Ah, time, or Kaala, from the Indian language. A fierce common denominator that lets not a single one of us escape. An ever present reminder that we aren’t getting any younger and yet, where does the time go? It can drudge on wearily in some cases or flash by at the speed of thought in others. Finding myself in the final month of 2021 has me looking around wondering where on earth the days went? And then, the last TWO days, while nursing a stomach bug I find myself staring at the walls wondering how I can speed this all up for a moment. Such a lovely conundrum when you sit with it!
We ebb and we flow, and some could say that time never exists. I like to think that as well. That all we have is this present moment, the hummingbird taking a rest to sip in a tongue of nectar, the buzz of a neighboring worker’s saw and the trickle of the stream running alongside our deck from Mount Tamalpais’ steady runoff. All this woven together in the present moment, sweetened by a feathered breeze brushing my skin.
Time is our greatest gift. I’ll never forget a New Year’s dinner with some friends years ago, and when asked what we all hoped to create for the year ahead, my dear friend said ‘More time with the ones I love.’ I feel this sentiment deep into my own beating heart. We never know how long we’ll have with those we cherish. We just don’t. So, as we prepare to conclude yet another yearly marker of 365 days, don’t let any of it slip on by, ok? Reach out to someone you love; send a letter, email or text and check in.
I hope you all find yourselves warm and cozy, happy and healthy and with peace in your entire being. You need not run around trying to acquire the next gadget or gizmo, exercise fad or new & improved this or that. Simply enjoy the gift of spacious days and moments unbeholden to the hands of the clock. The great wisdom teachings remind us to wake up to this present moment. And it is here now, and now, and now.
Nat K