My relationship with time
is that I am always trying to create more of it.
It used to be an argument with the clock
but the clock always won.
We have all agreed
to live by the clock
dividing our days and nights
into 24 pieces of 60 minutes each.
And yet some of us
seem to get so much more done
in the time we are given.
What allows a Mozart to write 41 symphonies in 35 years? (A complete set of his compositions takes up 180 compact discs!)
What allows a John Coltrane to change the course of jazz and release 24 albums in 12 years?
An intensity
a sense of purpose
a focused use of the limited time we are given
Now my relationship with time is more of a negotiation -
how to steal an hour from sleep
so I can be more awake,
how to be more efficient in the hours
that make up this conscious journey.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Time, Part 1:Creating Time / Finding Time
Creating Time / Finding Time
Einstein said matter cannot be created or destroyed.
He also said that time is relative.
So is it possible that time can be created or destroyed?
Even if time is relative, it seems a given that we cannot get time back once it is gone. Benjamin Button not withstanding, we don't grow younger, we grow older.
We can try, like Michael Jackson, to freeze time in youth, live our lives in Neverland, but our bodies understand the concept of aging, whether we want them to or not. I guess Michael found that out.
Time is like the airplane seat that flies away empty; it will never be able to get filled again until, maybe, the next flight.
I like the idea of creating time. Why not? We have created the calendar, we have created the concept of 24 hours in a day, but we did not create the fact that the sun rises and falls, and we are not limited to what we can get done between sunrise and sunset.
Waking up at 5:00 AM has created time, it has created a new world for me to discover.
And I love the idea of finding time. I find time all around:
under the water cooler, in the fridge, inside the newspaper or People Magazine. We find time every day for so many things.
What if we used that time in a different way, to create, to dream, to pursue, to fly on that airplane so the seat does not leave empty.
Einstein said matter cannot be created or destroyed.
He also said that time is relative.
So is it possible that time can be created or destroyed?
Even if time is relative, it seems a given that we cannot get time back once it is gone. Benjamin Button not withstanding, we don't grow younger, we grow older.
We can try, like Michael Jackson, to freeze time in youth, live our lives in Neverland, but our bodies understand the concept of aging, whether we want them to or not. I guess Michael found that out.
Time is like the airplane seat that flies away empty; it will never be able to get filled again until, maybe, the next flight.
I like the idea of creating time. Why not? We have created the calendar, we have created the concept of 24 hours in a day, but we did not create the fact that the sun rises and falls, and we are not limited to what we can get done between sunrise and sunset.
Waking up at 5:00 AM has created time, it has created a new world for me to discover.
And I love the idea of finding time. I find time all around:
under the water cooler, in the fridge, inside the newspaper or People Magazine. We find time every day for so many things.
What if we used that time in a different way, to create, to dream, to pursue, to fly on that airplane so the seat does not leave empty.
Passion Party- Time, Part 2 (Quiet Time)
Quiet Time
In preschool
they taught us "Quiet Time"
that time each day when we sat
or lay on our blankets
in silence
Now I need to make time to be silent
getting up at 5:00 AM
rising before the sun
the silence filled only
with the pumping of blood through my body
and the white noise of the electric lines and the cars on the freeway.
Clearing the mind
not trying to figure things out
but just to feel the feelings
letting the mind drift
like clouds in the sky
A time for acceptance
and renewal
creating a fresh start to the day.
In preschool
they taught us "Quiet Time"
that time each day when we sat
or lay on our blankets
in silence
Now I need to make time to be silent
getting up at 5:00 AM
rising before the sun
the silence filled only
with the pumping of blood through my body
and the white noise of the electric lines and the cars on the freeway.
Clearing the mind
not trying to figure things out
but just to feel the feelings
letting the mind drift
like clouds in the sky
A time for acceptance
and renewal
creating a fresh start to the day.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Passion Party #483 - Solving The Maze
At a very young age I became interested in puzzles and mazes.
Making my own designs and mazes was much more fun than trying to solve mazes in a book. I spent many hours during boring days at middle school, doodling mazes on math graph paper (as well as in the history text book, which got me into trouble).
My friends and I would trade these mazes, trying to stump each other, making mazes that included bridges, or holes in the paper that would make you fall through to the other side of the page, where the maze would continue.
When I finally moved on to college, I kept one folder filled with these mazes, thinking that someday they might be fun to play with.
Then life happened.
Years passed.
My path in life was not a straight line.
There were turns and twists, places where I fell through the floor and felt like I would not find my way out
Many years where, looking forward, I could not really see the path I was on; I just knew that I was still putting one foot in front of the other.
A recent college reunion found me digging around in the garage, and I came upon the box marked "High School 1969". I started looking through this old box of photos and writings and, lo and behold, I came upon my "puzzle and maze" folder.
These things were tough and convoluted,
but then I remembered one of the secrets to solving a maze.
The fastest way to solve a maze is to start at the end and follow them backwards to the beginning.
This may be one of the secrets of life, as well as mazes:
If you start at the end, the path reveals itself, and the maze becomes easy.
Making my own designs and mazes was much more fun than trying to solve mazes in a book. I spent many hours during boring days at middle school, doodling mazes on math graph paper (as well as in the history text book, which got me into trouble).
My friends and I would trade these mazes, trying to stump each other, making mazes that included bridges, or holes in the paper that would make you fall through to the other side of the page, where the maze would continue.
When I finally moved on to college, I kept one folder filled with these mazes, thinking that someday they might be fun to play with.
Then life happened.
Years passed.
My path in life was not a straight line.
There were turns and twists, places where I fell through the floor and felt like I would not find my way out
Many years where, looking forward, I could not really see the path I was on; I just knew that I was still putting one foot in front of the other.
A recent college reunion found me digging around in the garage, and I came upon the box marked "High School 1969". I started looking through this old box of photos and writings and, lo and behold, I came upon my "puzzle and maze" folder.
These things were tough and convoluted,
but then I remembered one of the secrets to solving a maze.
The fastest way to solve a maze is to start at the end and follow them backwards to the beginning.
This may be one of the secrets of life, as well as mazes:
If you start at the end, the path reveals itself, and the maze becomes easy.
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