The Shrinking Timeline

The Shrinking timeline…

Time appears to shrink more and more as we get older. That this commodity becomes more valuable in proportion to how scarce it becomes is very telling in terms of age. Obviously the ratio of remaining time as we age becomes smaller and smaller. Prioritising activities and more importantly people is obviously something that for the more discriminating amongst us is clearly a discipline we must engage in if we are to make the most of the time we have left. Making the most of your time is the secret of success and its respect is the cornerstone of many success stories.

Perhaps when we were younger notion that we had lots of time left is what allowed us to frivolously wast it without giving it a second thought. That obviously changes as we hit our 30s, 40s, then 50s and 60s when we realize that not only do we not have the same amount of time but the physical and mental energy we had in youth begins to diminish at an even more alarming rate. It’s amazing the number of people who don’t possess a diary. How I ask is it possible to manage your time, to value this dwindling resource out of which everything arises. Let’s face it, without time there’s nothing. Memories, future dreams and even this ever present experience is born of the seed of time.

Thinking about time, slicing and dicing it in intricate ways is necessary to extract its essence and value. Looking at methodologies, becoming more efficient in the way you allocate time and naturally prioritizing those people and projects that will be deemed worthy of your time and energy is an important form of progress in life. When this realization becomes clearer others may start to find you snobbish or un-contactable – at least a little aloof. The reason for this is that people and interests change, and sometimes dramatically over a period of years. Relationships morph into something completely unexpected. Sometimes we try to take account of where we are at in those significant relationships only to find that they have become so divergent that we hardly recognize the other person. As individuals we evolve at different rates and therefore sometimes take our eye off the ball of understanding that others are also evolving and changing and that eventually we are just so completely different we don’t wish to afford that individual any more of our precious time. 

Accepting this changing flow or slipstream called time and the way it subtly changes the concepts we have about life, others and ourselves can be a surprising insight if we move in tune with it and exercise total acceptance without the usual habitual judgement. By realizing that things do indeed change we are in a better position to accept newly emerging situations and people that come into our lives. Rather than becoming stuck, or should I say ossified like a petrified piece of wood, stagnant in time, we become enriched and creatively spontaneous by adapting to each moment of life. This can truly be considered the most expressive art-the art of living.