I’ve decided to write about time; which is like writing about oxygen, or gravity.
Each one holds us, in its way.
The new agers and the quantum physicists say time is not linear.
I have not heard a solid layman’s explanation yet, but you know I like to keep things open.
I mean, clearly we are aging in one direction.
The pace of time, the way we experience it – is it more chaotic, more vulnerable to manipulation, than we think?
Note sure. But the clocks work, so there’s that.
“Like clockwork” means something.
Sometimes the kids hear an expression like that – “like clockwork” – and they ask me what it means.
They are so smart and so articulate. They’re in kindergarten, so I mean contextually.
They did a study at Stanford relating children’s vocabulary with socio-economic conditions. They call it “the word gap” – they found that by age three, there is a thirty million word gap between the wealthiest and the poorest families.
As if we needed more pressure on parents of young children, but it’s still interesting.
Like oxygen and gravity and time – I suppose those extra words are just another resource hanging around in wealthy families’ homes?
Time binds us
Whichever direction and speed it’s moving, there comes a time when each of our clocks will run out.
I learned about an undergraduate degree that focuses on death and dying. Actually it’s called Thanatology, and it’s Canada’s only program of its kind for undergraduates.
And, it’s growing. And, it’s newsworthy.
Is it the pandemic?
Is it the fact that we’ve effectively erased from the record – mainstream media; social expectations; our real lives – so much of the “less than vital”?
Is this the quiet beginning of backlash against the way we’ve become so squeamish, so uncomfortable, so caged in denial, regarding death?
We push the dying into the farthest, shadowy corners we can find so that we can keep on keeping on. All the while, death is so clearly a massive milestone – the ultimate milestone – in a life.
What do I say?
How did I answer, when they asked what “like clockwork” means?
Hm. I probably said something like this:
“It means that something moves in a measured, predictable way.”
Then again, I might have said steady, or rigid, or consistent, or reliable. So many words.
Whatever I said, I thought about it first. I took care with my answer, I always do.
I take care in communication, at least I always try.
The rising Gemini in me won’t let me do things any other way.
My friend asked me what gives me joy.
That’s why I like this friend, because we can laugh together and think together. I love people I can laugh and think with.
If someone starts with “maybe this is too personal, or heavy, or intimate” I stop them right there: it’s not.
I’m never offended by someone taking the conversation to a deeper place.
If you don’t know, deep is what I do. Deep is what we do in coaching too, by the way.
I told her: I could tell you what gives me joy, but I think the more useful question is to ask yourself…
What do you lose track of time doing?
I didn’t come up with that question. It’s just one of a thousand bits and pieces I’ve picked up from over twenty years of personal development research.
Seriously, I was a pioneer of Starbucks-and-Stroll-Indigo’s-Self-Help-Section.
I lose track of time at Indigo.
It’s about time
Recently I was speaking with another friend I can laugh and think with. I was telling him that I’m working on a rebrand and a relaunch of my company for this fall, with plans to expand what we do here and, honestly, how we show up.
He heard my energy and also, he must have heard some tiny seed of uncertainty in my voice.
He told me I owe it to myself to do exactly what I am most passionate about.
Which really sounded like my line, I have to say.
Has someone ever used your own tricks on you?
It’s jarring.
It’s also helpful, when the tricks are good.
And I can tell you, my tricks are good.
Twenty years, remember?
What does “it’s about time” even mean?
My kids asked.
I said: “It means something is overdue. Something is more than ready to happen. It may even be late.”
So, what’s it about time for you to do?
This is your sign to get started.
What will you do? Comment below or DM me over here and let me know.
I’m cheering you on.
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