The older I get, the faster time rushes. And there seems to be nothing I can do about it.
Winter Solstice is upon us. In just two days people in the Northern Hemisphere will celebrate the shortest day of the year, the lengthening of the days and the return of spring. And in just two weeks 2022 will end and 2023 will begin. But didn’t we just start wearing sweaters and hard pants? How are we here already? Time is going by too fast for me.
I don’t care if it’s longer days, longer nights, or equal days and nights. I just want my twenty-four hours and I don’t want them to zoom by in a flash, like they seem to be doing, now that I’m an old lady.
I just heard a meditation teacher say that our physical bodies tend to lean forward most of the time, due to our brains’ natural tendency to think about where we need to go, what we need to do next, what’s next on the agenda. And this is why so many of us have trouble sleeping. What’s next? What’s next? What’s next?
Instead, we should be fully participating in what’s happening right now.
So let’s celebrate the seasons, the turn of the calendar page, the natural changes that happen in our world. These things are momentous and magical. Let’s mark those occasions. But let’s also celebrate the morning and the day, our cozy beds, etc., and try not to keen towards spring from now forward. Maybe in that way we can slow the passage of our days.
“A man [or woman] who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.” ― Charles Darwin, The Life & Letters of Charles Darwin
“Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity.” ― Jean de La Bruyère, Les Caractères
“Sometimes I feel like if you just watch things, just sit still and let the world exist in front of you – sometimes I swear that just for a second time freezes and the world pauses in its tilt. Just for a second. And if you somehow found a way to live in that second, then you would live forever.” ― Lauren Oliver, Pandemonium
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Thanks for listening,
Kay
P.S. MerryThoughts is the name of my first book, out of print at the moment. The word is a British one, referring both to a wishbone and to the ritual of breaking the wishbone with the intention of either having a wish granted or being the one who marries first, thus the “merry thoughts.”
