We may look to the past, but we cannot go back. We may dream ahead, yet we cannot live there either. We have today and today is made up of twenty-four hours of sixty minute blocks of time, which can be condensed into 1,440 units of time in day. These units can be broken down into seconds which click off at the rate of 86,400 clicks in a day. How we use these minute moments of time is truly what makes us who we are today. It has been said that 'today is crucified between two thieves...yesterday and tomorrow'. Most of us can relate to this cliche, because most of us, from 'time to time' have been caught in this valley of decision or should I say indecision. Robert Updegraff said, "To get all there is out of living, we must employ our time wisely, never being in too much of a hurry to stop and sip life, but never losing our sense of the enormous value of a minute." In the midst of the rat race and our hectic pace of life, the battle rages within and without, to truly gain a grasp of how to find this balance.
Though we may 'know' these things and understand all its implications, it seems clearly evident that many people are hanging on this cross of immobility. Hanging high above the torrential storms of life, we reason our lives away until, in the end, life becomes a sentimental journey of should of's, could of's, and would of's. Our surrounding culture overstimulates us into believing just listening is enough. The luxuries of life seemingly engulf us and systematically encase us within a self made cocoon of ease and mental massages that not only hinder movement, but by nature of the stimulant, reject movement all together. Glued to the television, computer, internet (name your technology), we sit, and we sit because you can't move at the same time you watch. From time to time, we get in our 'covered wagons', which are now loaded with a myriad of stimulants that once again, ease us into the lull of painless immobility. Twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, we 'move' from couch to car to cubicle to car to couch again and then to bed...then come morning, we repeat the 86,400 seconds over again.
These turn into the moments, the clicks of our lives and time slips by until we look back with a sentimental glimpse and say..."I wish I would have!" Leonardo Da Vinci said, "Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it." Life is about movement. Living is about moving forward. Our bodies were built to move. We were built to sweat. Though the luxuries of life are great and have definitely enriched our lives, it also seems these same indulgences have warped our sense of time and space. Which in turn has robbed us of a true quality of life. The same technology that has blessed us, has also cursed us to the point where movement seems to be a lost art form. Something that only the unsophisticated of history had to suffer through in years gone past. It is as though we look back at the past with a contempt for those who had to actually move to live. We, the living, are no longer tortured with such a curse to have to walk or move much, and yet, if the truth be known, if we don't move, we don't live. And even more sad, is this illusion seems so strong that eventually those 86,400 clicks of daily living turn into minutes, hours, days, and then, finally, after years have past by, as though from some self induced coma, we wake up and 'wonder' where has all the time gone?
Over the years, I have had many look at me out of those same coma glazed eyeballs and tell me I am crazy. I have had the weird looks from those who blast past me in their 'covered wagons', while they have a cigarette in one hand, coffee in the other, and doughnut on their lap, wondering why on earth am I out running the roads at such an early hour. Caught up in the rat race and the crush of time, they can't seem to grasp that over a decade ago, I got off the cross of just enjoying a sentimental view of life, and decided to step into the fullness of the moments. Moments filled with pore opening, and pulsating movements that have forever changed who I am and who I aim to be!
No comments:
Post a Comment