Time

Some measure time by the ticking of a clock, others by the days of the week and still others by the years that pass.

One of my favorite songs has a line in it about “being in the autumn of my life.”  That sounds almost forlorn in retrospect.

The truth (you know how I like truth) of the matter is that most of us measure time by the weekends.  We relish the hour when Friday afternoon rolls around and we can take some “time” to go out, sleep in, golf or what have you.

I used to watch people walking into the office on Monday morning and then watch them leave as the evening skies turn a pale shade of azure with crimson overtones flashing across the skies, dancing across the few clouds that sailed by.

In the morning people are full of life.  There is just about a glow to most of them.  Around twilight, the glow has turned to hollow, shadowed facial structures.  The enthusiasm that they greeted the day with has long since departed, leaving them bereft of cheerfulness.  They are in fact vapid, of that essence of “life!”

Looking upwards towards the kaleidoscope display of nature’s own brand of art, is not even a passing thought.  We have lost our way in the maze of time clocks, political correctness, rules and social mores.  We have forgotten how to be “us.”

Making our way with the throngs of other drones either by bus train or car we head to that last bastion of relief, our homes.  Summoning the last bit of energy in reserve, they “we” plod through our charted course until we finally can collapse into our beds, maybe even inviting death’s “sting” as we contemplate the day today, and start thinking about tomorrow.  Would that “sting” really be so bad?

The weekends are fraught with their own unique brand of dull drum, as we now must take care of the things that did not get taken care of during the week.  This thing called life happens on those days of the week that end in “Y,” and many of us may wonder “why” we chose the path that we did.

Time can be measured in heart beats.  I truly believe that time is relative in that manner as the creatures with the fastest heart beat seem to live the shortest amounts of time, conversely those with the slowest, seem to live much longer.

We sell our selves every day, one heart beat at a time.  Every heart beat that you spend, is one less heart beat that you have left.  Since we do seem to measure time with our hearts may I humbly suggest that you fill your life with love and laughter?  Life is too short to be angry.

I overheard a man today complaining about his employer at great lengths, regarding their intelligence, their breeding and so forth; and I could not help but notice that he was working for them.  His brand of “living” was to sew seeds of his discontent to fellow workers and stew in his lot in life.  We could talk about negative and positive energy but that is a topic for another day.  Do you know that when you are upset or angry, cortisol is released; the stress hormone. Does it really pay to be “angry,” Only if you want to shorten your life, and the lives of those people around you!

Time is what we make of it, and we are all the stewards of that time.  Tomorrow will take care of itself, live for right now, in the moment.  Enjoy what you do even at your work for there are no do-over’s, this is it!

You can do that with what I call PMA, the diametric opposite of PMS, to borrow that awkward condition in some women’s lives, as an example.

Positive Mental Attitude

It takes practice but after 45 days of doing it, you will be a different person. I have been practicing it for years and I do not look like those that I described earlier.  As the matter of fact I appear quite young for my age.  I guess I will have to write about that one day soon.  In short, don’t get caught in others negative attitudes and don’t ever project one.  Life is too short to hate, to be angry, to live in a constant state of turmoil.

Allow me to share one brief story of how I discovered PMA.

I had a job that involved going out to customers’ locations, carrying a 40 pound box of tools, parts and so forth to repair what needed to be repaired.  While I really liked what I did, and I enjoyed dealing with people, I really loathed the fact that parking was a hassle; it was in the south so high humidity and pop-up rain showers were normal on top of being in a large city.

One day I parked blocks from where I needed to go, as it was raining so all of the “close up” parking was taken.  The rain in this case was caused by a tropical storm sitting on top of the city, in short rain was moving horizontally as well as vertically.  Wearing dress clothes(very wet ones), carrying that tool bag, slogging through running water, I finally made it into the building.  Another older gentleman was behind me, so I held the door for him.  As we climbed into the elevator I began grumbling about the weather, the day etc.  As I was trying to engage this man in conversation as “I do that” his demeanor was very much different from mine.  He seemed content if not jovial.  He took off his hat and allowed the water to run onto the floor and patiently listened to me while I droned on about the rain.

Before he left he passed this on to me and I have never forgotten it.  “Son, anytime you wake up sucking air, it is a good day!”  We were at a hospital for cancer treatment, and I can only assume that he was a patient.  I had discovered PMA!

Those words rattled around my head for that day, the next and so on.  Every time I am having a tough time, those words re-play themselves they in fact, resonate with my soul; I usually strike a grin and silently thank that man for sharing that one bit of advice.  Rarely do I have “bad days” any longer.  It put things into perspective for me and it is my prayer that this may help someone else who is having a “bad day.”

Take a moment to smell the roses, watch the clouds, and my personal favorite is to watch the ocean.  I can sit there for hours just watching the waves and listening to the seagulls and other birds going about their day.  That is time well spent..

-Best to you and those that you care about!