Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Time. Such an elusive, vital concept!

                                                                                       by Sherry Jeppson Zitter

I never seem to have enough of it…  


I struggle to understand how to structure it, how to use it, how to flow with it and be at peace with it. 

Today is the last day of January.. I made a vow at the New Year to meditate 20 minutes a day this month. It was tough some days. And now what? 

I had a vision of continuing to meditate, maybe adding in yoga and/or exercise, then cleaning up my space(s) a bit each morning -- slowly progressing toward better, more consistent self-care and home organization. But where will this extra time come from?!! My days already feel too packed to squeeze in the “necessary" things.

And yet... Time as we experience it is really just a concept, right? A construct of our human mind? Non-human animals don’t think in days, hours  minutes - certainly not seconds and nano-seconds! They feel the cycles of Nature, Her periods of brightness and darkness, of winter and springtime, of heat and cold…and they know exactly how to respond, what to do in order to survive, to stay warm, to have enough to eat. We human animals are so sadly disconnected from all that!

Our elderly companion animals (Sophie, our almost-20 year old kitty and Jason, our 15 1/2 year old Australian Terrier) take time to care for. We give them several supplements and medicines, feed them, walk Jason — but they also give US time. They expand time in unexpected ways: Jason gives us time to take walks, to be out in Nature during all sorts of weather. Time is created for that walk when our energy or schedule wouldn’t appear to hold it. With Sophie, time appears in our days to hold this gently purring creature in a lap, during a day where down time seemed non-existent. There are profound reasons why these wise non-human companions are in our lives.

 I want to live by Nature’s cycles, feeling my animal clock rather than the human-made clock. I want to flow with Her and through Her, dancing in Her energies and channeling Her wisdom and grace. I want to slowly come back to the rhythms She intended, intends for us. I know this will be hard to do, a sometimes impossible-seeming goal in today’s hurried and plugged-in culture. And I understand that meditation, doggie walks, and kitty lap time — as well as my ahimsa yoga classes -- assist in this space and sense of unhurried timelessness I crave and cherish. And let’s not forget the importances of time and space for authentic heart connections with my wife, my family and friends.

I won’t make another vow to meditate daily — I don’t want to add stress and another “rule” to my existence. But I will create space to meditate every day I can, and to gradually increase yoga and other exercise — not as a pressure or a “should,” but from that joyous place of “Always-Enough” that Sarah’s oracle card teaches me. For that is where we can find enough Time, always.