Hey! What’s the rush? You have all the time in the world. Are you forgetting that?
No kidding, you have 24 hours every day. There is no more time in the whole world (with the exception of sub-atomic particles that experience time dilation at relativistic speeds, but let’s not go there). So, what’s your hurry?
One day in 2004 my friend Carl shows me a quote from his spiritual teacher, Swami Muktananda: “Time eats all things. But God eats time. He eats time like chutney.” Carl laughs so heartily at the quote, he can hardly speak.
Recently, after years of rolling around in my head, that quote blossoms and I reach a new understanding of what Muktananda tells us. Muktananda also teaches, “God dwells within you, as you.” So, I see that we are the time-eaters. We get all the time in the world: each and every one of us gets 24hours per day. Like one who puts chutney, or ketchup, or salsa, or jam on their food to add flavor, we put time on the activities of our life and make those activities where we put time, richer, and enhanced.
On what are you putting your time? Study, love, play? Look at what you have in life, it is nourished by you with the water of time. If you put your time to other things, they will grow in your life.
Carl can no longer speak as he did six years ago. He has Alzheimer’s disease and the course of time has taken away much of the control of his physical and mental functions. But, Carl has peace because he cultivated it with his life of kindness and spiritual practices. Not even time with Alzheimer’s has been able to take that away from him.
What are you cultivating today? Your own tomorrow. You have all the time in the world.
–David
David Lazaroff is author of Live It Up! 10 Ways to Share Joy When Your Friend Has Alzheimer’s. David coaches family and friends of people with Alzheimer’s Disease in creating a fun and joyful life. Contact david@holistic.com
David is the founder of Holistic Community Living, a Colorado nonprofit founded to operate and teach others to operate neighborhood-based assisted living homes where people can complete their lives with those they love.