“There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven….” Ecc. 3:1
“Summertime and the livin’ is easy,
Fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high,”
So sings Ella Fitzgerald
Listening to Ella sing this piece is like watching butterscotch flow over the falls in Candyland. It is rich, thick, and smooth to the ears and resonates on so many levels.
You are called to stop and just remember her and she then, in turn, creates in you a need to remember your own past. Her style of song draws the lyrics out like pull-taffy and you immediately close your eyes and hold where you are.
Much like the piece, Somewhere over the Rainbow sung by Judy Garland when she was a young teen.
These songs both were created and sang in a world very different than the world today. Written and sang in a time where difference was frowned upon, ignorance was bliss, and oppression was not understood as well as we do in our current world.
Most people painfully unaware of how life shut out and shut down, diminishing those who were different in any way. A time that is fading into the past, I hope.
“Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high,
There is a land that I heard of, once, in a lullaby …”
Dreams and desires are not new. People have dreamed dreams and desired good lives since the dawn of evolution.
Our consciousness is evolving, and we are able to imagine more deeply a way we want to live, and have it come to fruition when we dream it into being.
How often do we choose to sit and while away time dreaming of over the rainbow and playing out fantasies living the summertime and easy livin’ of a carefree world.
Watching children at play is a lesson for all adults. When we as adults attempt to dream away our day, like a child, or act out our dreams, we are quickly reminded by others that we have chores to do, places to go, people to see.
We are challenged to get a job, get to work, do something productive and just smarten up (whatever that means!).
What a shame, because imagination is the mother of invention and without it, Einstein may not have invented the lightbulb and Ford may not have invented the first automobile! I am sure our ancestors dreamed of a free rolling cart long before they chipped out the first stone wheel.
Why are we at such war with time for free thinking and imagination? Why are we so quick to treat time as if it were scarce or limited?
In the twilight years, and especially those under five years old, time means nothing. Watch a child at play for a few minutes or even better watch for a day!
We do not start out our lives worrying about time, thinking it is short, limited or something to watch. We begin our lives in innocent narcissism, autonomy and joy.
Then as we grow the adults, in our lives, craft, train and condition us into their way of life. They take the joy and freedom of endless time out of us, installing stress and a nervousness that follows a person for the rest of their lives.
Do you remember what lessons you have been taught that you can now let go of? Lessons of how the adults in your life lived to be compliant, acceptable and properly behaved. When was the last time you played?
An art project, woodworking, a hobby, a walk in the park or around the block being careful not to step on a crack, because you know what happens!
When was the last time you spent a day doing everything like a three-year-old, with curiosity, wonder and eagerness? Why are you choosing to do daily that which does not bring you happiness?
Time is time. When we look at the clock it is most often to see what time it is NOT, as opposed to actually caring what time it IS.
Time is only checked when there are constraints or appointments making a person aware of time. What if you were to set aside one day or a half day where you put away your watch, your phone, any time keeping and simply whiled away the hours, with no concerns for being anywhere but where you are.
No technology, no appointments, no plans. Eat when you are hungry, sleep when you are tired and drink when you are thirsty. The only trigger is when darkness falls it is night and sleep triggers the new day and it can begin with your alarm clock.
Working with aging adults, I am often faced with people asking me over and over again, “What day is it?” And families being concerned because Mom does not remember what she had for lunch. Who cares?
When you are living in a timeless space; this does not matter, and it is only our need for control that cares about these things!
One of my wisdom learnings is to step back and look at time differently. I choose to give time after considering all the angles and reasons.
I give time to things and places that bring me joy. I have given myself permission to say “no” to anything I do not want to do, and I am happier for it. Time, or energy, cannot be saved, put in the bank, stocked up or borrowed from yesterday. Today is all we have, use it wisely.
Caroline Myss is a wonderful energy healer who suggests this: awaken and realize you have ten units of energy each day available to you. As you begin your day, how are you going to spend your ten units of energy?
Like anything, if you only have so much then there is only so much to spend! Do you budget your energy? When you watch how you spend your time and your energy and realize what takes more than you have to give you begin to realize control.
Taking time to be in the moment is the only way to value time. Watching for the incremental things and having appreciation for moments in your day treating nothing insignificantly and taking nothing for granted. Take your ten units and pay attention to where you spend your time and your energy.
May you take your morning beverage sit in a chair and look out the window and do nothing but appreciate what is in your cup. This tiny habit will bring you to an awareness that will set your day off right.
Simply be aware of the smoothness, the taste, be grateful for it and thank yourself for the time to appreciate it. I might go so far as to say after this exercise you might feel like you have eleven units of energy to spend, simply because it will start your day off on the right foot.
Be friends with your own time, your own energy spending. Love it and value it. There is a time for everything, and for everything there is time!
As the Byrds sang, 'For everything there is time … and a season!'
Cynthia Breadner is a soul care worker who offers one-on-one homecare for aging adults who choose to age in place. This care includes emotional support, physical care, mental well-being, and spiritual practices to sooth the soul. She is a volunteer at hospice, LTC chaplain and a death doula, assisting with end-of-life for client and family. She is the founder of GriefCafeBradford and practices soul care in the South Simcoe and North York region. She raises awareness how birth and death, each end of life can both be joy-filled and hopeful passages. [email protected] breakingstibah.com
