Time Bastards
When the world is "busy" and we are part of that, is that OK? And if it's not, how can we change our circumstances?
It's taken me a month to write a blog on being too busy. That's so ironic that it's not at all. It's simply indicative of a larger truth that's been bothering me to my core as of late. I am...
Busy.
I'm so d*#$ busy.
(Can anyone relate?)
And when I get so—my mind copes by not being able to focus on anything important, and my attention drifts to less important matters...for example, I've just spent 15 minutes looking up the filmography of Michael J Fox (which is why I said less important and not un-important...have you seen Doc Hollywood?).
But besides the fact that there very well may be something wrong with me, my busyness has been growing. I want to take time to do the things that truly matter, and to rest—but I find that, on the whole, my schedule and my heart are over-worked.
Cultural vulnerability to over-working How often have we heard the word busy recently? Its usage has went up exponentially in the last couple decades, and more so recently.
Why is this? And is there really something tremendously wrong with being busy?
Mostly, I think people are busy because they're trying to take that next step on the ladder of success (whether that be financial, prestigious, or to feel valuable/important, etc.), and that time is simply an avenue with which they take that step.
And I'm also culpable in this matter. Our gods have become our pocketbooks, beds, and stages; and we bow down daily—leveraging our time for the sake of these presumed ends.
However, those goals are never ultimately fulfilling if achieved, and by employing our time to obtain them, we only corrupt that time.
Busyness vs. Diligence Everyone fights this to some degree, and each in different ways.
But how do we conquer this? How do we work hard, but not so much that we don't balance our schedules, and thus our personal health?
(Because that's what happens—our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual healths take serious hits when we they take a back seat to a life filled with appropriate work toward correct goodness.)
Though, I do not know what the exact right answer is, I do want to be balanced, every day. Not just most, or some. And I think there are three things that are pertinent for me to remember: meditation, evaluation, and rest.
Meditate to slow myself and to seek clarity in what's going on in my heart; evaluate the things that I'm spending my time doing—and if I'm choosing wisely in that realm; and regularly rest my mind, body and soul.
This has (to some extent, and hopefully will in the future) enabled me to discern more intelligibly what is right to partake in, and what is not.
For time is not promised, and when we are attentive to how we spend it—we're enabled to partake in the most fulfilling and 'right' activity we take part in as humans. To care for those around us, followed closely by caring for those things which are entrusted to us.
Life, in real-time If we do these—and thus change our hearts—time will no longer be counterfeit, a bastard child of our selfishness and ambivalence. It will be legitimate, and a well-used blessing.
And our lives, and the lives of those around us, will be well-lived, regardless of circumstance, in purpose and joy.
Henceforth, if we're any type of busy—may it be busy slowing down our lives, busy making a difference in the lives of others, and busy being thankful for the time that we have. True, full life resides in doing so.
