At the end of our yoga class, our instructor always encourages us to lie still in sivasana for at 5 minutes. She says it’s so important to give yourself this time. She also said something yesterday that’s really been making me think. She said if you ever got to hear Bikram speak, he’d tell you what the number one killer is. We said – heart disease? Cancer? Smoking? Obesity? And this list of guesses goes on, but none of us got it right. The answer? TIME. Time is the number one killer. Not taking the time to slow life down for what’s important, creates stress and wreaks havoc on our health. Precious minutes, hours, days, lost to this battering of ourselves, cannot ever be recouped. He said if you ever ask someone whose dying what they wish they had? They all say “more time”.
Lately, without me consciously thinking about it, “things” have become less important to me than time with the people I love. Now don’t get me wrong, if I get a gift, I actually love it. Most “things” that I now want are for the house to make it a more peaceful and comfortable place. The true gifts in my life, just for me, are the “times of my life” spent with those close to me, like the shopping day I spent with Ashley, coffee with my dad, going to see Sibohan Magnus impromptu with my hubby, three hour talks on the phone with Erin, an afternoon of coffee and Oprah with Dilana, the Lady Gaga concert and 4th of July with all three girls, etc. These are gifts of time that can never grow old, break, get thrown out, or be forgotten. I know that on my deathbed it’s these things I will remember and sorely want more of.
I refuse to let time kill me. I’m working hard to keep life, with all it’s trials, in some kind of perspective and not let myself worry away precious minutes that could be spent with someone I love, or helping to make the world a better place, or even just taking time to be kinder to myself.
I feel myself getting older, but I’m doing everything possible to make sure I have a lot of time left to do right by those I love so one day, when I’m gone, I know they’ll have everything they need to be strong, happy, people.
And so, as another day goes by, I am so looking forward to more times of my life -Xmas eve at my sister’s and New Years Eve in Texas, and…I have written.
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