Another Friday came and it is one of those Fridays that are in October. Weren't we celebrating new year just a couple of days ago? Where did the time go? It does not have wings but it sure does fly, goes away and can never come back. Once you do something, it can not be undone and once you fail to do something, you will never have that exact moment to do it. So what are you doing, how are you spending your time and are you spending it at all or are you wasting it? Are you chasing it?
I am one of those people that if they have 25 things to do per day, I will do them all and have some spare time left but if I have two things to do I will probably not do either of them. This is because I organize my time when there is a lot to do and procrastinate when I have little with saying how there is plenty of time and I should just take a nap. There is one thing, however, that I do every day. I always learn something new. You know my favorite quote by now, right?
"Live like you are going to die tomorrow,
learn like you are going to live forever."
Gandhi
Everything can get stolen from you, even your life if we're going to be bluntly honest and pessimistic but your mind is only yours. The knowledge you hold will never go away. If your brain is healthy that is. What you learn is the only true possession you will acquire in your life. This is why I learn something new every day and enrich myself with some new information. Sometimes those pieces of information are smaller and sometimes larger. Sometimes they are about history or science, trivia, cultural, and sometimes it is a new cooking recipe. The only thing that matters is that it is what I did not know before.
One hour after I got up
I alredy learned something...
Have you ever heard or used the expression Knock on wood? We use that term when everything so far has been going good and we want to keep it that way. Today, I learned where that term comes from...
Long long time ago, people were strong believers that spirits lived in trees. Those spirits were always eavesdropping on people and playing tricks on them when they learned what people were planning by creating the opposite. When a person was wanting something to stay like it was and talking about it, he or she would knock on wood to create a sort of sound distortion for the spirits, a noise so they could not hear the person speaking.
As I have said, I learned this only one hour after I got up. I know I will learn a lot more today since I have promised my friend to come for a visit and help her study for one of her exams, I think the subject is about human muscles, blood and cells, a biology kind so that will be interesting. I wonder what else will I store to my brain today...
Wasting time does not mean you are doing nothing, it means that you feel like you are doing nothing. You are always doing something, even sitting and thinking is something, breathing is something and sleeping is something. Wasting time means you are doing what you do not want to be doing. That is a waste. Time is passing and you are not happy with the amount of it being used on what fulfills you. You will recognize wasted time by your regret and a thought that you did nothing useful or valuable. Just remember:
“Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”
Marthe Troly-Curtin
Always in a hurry?
Fell like you always have too little time?
You are chasing it...
If you are always late for everything and having a million things a day you do with always running around and stressing about will you have enough time for all your plans then you are chasing time. You are never having enough of it and you are never enjoying it. Even when you go for a hike, you walk fast to reach that top, never stop to admire the nature and then quickly get back because you have more things that are waiting to be done. When you are sitting in a romantic dinner, you are looking at your watch and in your mind going over all the things that you will do when you get back home.
To spend time is to live in it.
You are spending time when you are living it, when you are enjoying it no matter what you are doing with it because there is not a sweeter realization than that everything is important. Every moment. You need it all. You need your tears and your smiles. You need your bad boss because he will force you to be stronger and stand up for yourself. You need your bubble bath and you need your play time just like you need your office moments and those excel sheets with a ton of data in them. You need your washing of the dishes and looking at how they shine afterward. You need it all and you should enjoy it all. Waiting for the weekend, holiday or vacation to be happy will leave you not being happy even then. If you learn how to appreciate everything, you will be able to completely immerse yourself in that which you prefer and enjoy it much more.
"The bad news is that time flies.
The good news is you're the pilot."
Michael Altshuler
I was once a time chaser. I had my little notebook with the things to do written down and crossed once I would do them. I use to sleep only a couple hours a night and work for more than ten hours. Work that I did not enjoy or want to do. It only cost me my sanity... A couple of years after my psychological breakdown, strong pills and even stronger therapy, I am a new person. A person who enjoys her time and realizes that appreciating little things is wrong because there are no little things. Everything is big and everything is important. I try to enjoy everything (emphasis on try) and I appreciate diversity in my life.
Life is short and time is precious.
Enjoy it while you can.
- not washing your dishes now will not bring the world to an end
- 6-7 hours of sleep is enough
- have a 30min nap every day
- be one step ahead
- an apology goes a long way, learn to say no
- make time for yourself
- learn to delegate
- multitask only if you are a woman
- preparation will make things go smooth
- leave buffers of time between things
- having phone off is not forbidden by law
- always do something while you are waiting
- work smarter not harder
- get up before the Sun does
- control your TV time
- non-essential things can wait
- get a better sense of humour
- things are as fun as you make them
I hope you had a great week and that you are going to have an even better weekend. Enjoy it, smile and spread some love around. Spend time on doing things that you appreciate doing, take care of yourself and do not forget to learn something new each day.
Until next time,
KEEP YOUR SMILE ON!
POST EDIT:
I just learned that there is no such thing as the Chinese language, my mind is officially blown away... Thank you 
