Father Time is a weekly column dedicated to the concept of time in a parent’s life, particularly a father’s life. The point of view comes from a father of two young sons, both under three-years-old, and how time really is just that: a concept.
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When it comes to making, saving, or wasting time, I’ve made a simple distinction about how letting go is the first crucial step. If we don’t release our grip on what we think saves/makes/wastes time, we’ll never flow with time the way we should. Honoring the currency has to happen first inside our own heads.
To illustrate this point, below is a list of time wasters we don’t realize erode our peace of mind. I challenge you to think of some of the ways you do similar things and write them down. Send them in, then let them go.
- Rushing to the red stop light
- Switching lanes on the highway to get ahead
- Checking your phone for no apparent reason
- Checking your e-mail inbox, texts, or social media posts for a reply for something you just sent
- Social media
- Going to the grocery store without a shopping list
- Hurrying your child to do anything
- Hurrying yourself to do anything
- Keeping track of how many hours you should be sleeping, or calories you should/shouldn’t be eating
- Going up, then back down the cable television guide to find something to watch
- Scrolling through Netflix
- Skim reading
- Trying to get through airport security as fast as humanly possible
- Photographing everything
- Promiscuous reading
- Waiting for the right time
- Staying angry
- Worrying what other people of think of you
- Worrying what you think of yourself
- Worrying
And on and on.
Either way, the notion to simply let go is orbiting strong right now.
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Did I mention I’m guilty of all of these? Most of us are. The “aha!” with a list like this is figuring out the unintended time consequence of each action. That unintended consequence messes with the hands on your inner clock, withdraws from your time account like an inconspicuous bank fee you never knew was there.
Maybe what’s pulling the philosophical strings inside my head right now are these planets lining up in the morning winter sky. Whatever it is, something is changing. Could be that I’m reading The Alchemist and The Pocket Buddha Reader (promiscuous reader alert!), which are adding to this centering affect of my otherwise preoccupied mind. Either way, the notion to simply let go is orbiting strong right now.
Or I don’t know. Maybe I’m just finally figuring out the stuff that takes a lifetime to master.
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Photo credit: Robert Couse-Baker.