“We all start out in life with one thing in common: we all have the same amount of time. It’s just a matter of what we do with it.” — Harvey B. Mackay
We have all heard this quote in one manner or another throughout our lives. We have experienced the madness of crowded airports/business travelers, traffic jams that go on for miles, shopping in any department/grocery store where small children are driving their parents to the brink, movie theaters where people are commenting loudly on the action, or not silencing their electronic devices, concerts/recitals where attendees keep moving so often that standing in the aisle is probably the better choice, this last example could be applied to sports events as well. In those instances of complete frustration, miscommunication, incorrect seat assignments, lost luggage, screaming children, or traffic jams that are incomprehensible . . . our lives can also find a specific control center that will dissipate the chaos and lead us to a place of stillness, peace, serenity, tranquility and quiet. We can release tension, anxiety, or emotional distress by going to a place of inner light and introspection illuminated by this quote of Stephen Covy . . . “Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us.”
Once we become conscious of our choices in any given circumstance, we can slowly begin to practice finding our true selves, through excavating all the debris that has inhibited our growth, getting rid of it layer by layer, bit by bit, one step at a time. Undoubtedly, this will take a great deal of patience, and why not devote that patience to your true self? What a beautiful idea! Investing time in yourself, to release the fundamental essence of your being. These words of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross express it another way . . . “People are like stained glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.”
Time slips away and we always think we have more of it . . . then we learn through the following days, weeks, months or years . . . that may not be the case. The realization begins slowly with the loss of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and close friends . . . followed by the loss of our own parents, spouse, brother or sister and all of a sudden we look in the mirror thinking to ourselves . . . maybe there isn’t that much time anymore, and what do I do now? Each person much decide this for themselves and no one person makes the same choices, however, Frances G. Wickes from “The Inner World of Choice,” expresses it another way . . . “The art of living is, in its essential meaning, a development and transformation of the power of inward choice. Its products are fashioned in the workshop of the soul.” JLR