Life Is Ticking Away
Issue No. 17 of the Knowing Road
Happy Labor Day! Summer has practically ended, school for most has begun or is about to begin, and I hope the summer ended on a high note for all of you. This issue only consists of an essay on a topic that we can all relate to…time. But, it’s not about how to manage it, or become more productive with our time, but the inevitable fact that our time is limited and will eventually come to an end. Now, this may be a morbid thought to some of you, but I don’t think it needs to be. It is all about the framing of it, and whether that impending moment adds to your current life or limits it. I would hope the former. Be well! — Stephen
“Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ into the future. I want to fly like an eagle to the sea. Fly like an eagle, let my spirit carry me. I want to fly like an eagle ‘til I’m free.”
— Steve Miller
As I celebrate my 55th birthday, the reality and scarcity of time has been on my mind a lot lately. Time that has passed. My use of time. The time that remains in my lifetime. It is a rather common occurrence at this stage of life I suspect since that statistically I have more days behind me than ahead. In the span of weeks, I have “lived” for approximately 2,860 weeks. The average life expectancy for a US male is 78.79 years (or about 4,102 weeks), leaving me with 1,242 weeks left or 30% of my life. It is a sobering cold plunge of a thought exercise but empowering at the same time. While on its face, 70% of my life is complete, 30% is a significant amount left. The great question is what to do with or how should I respond to this unavoidable reality.
If there are subjects that the great thinkers and notable minds and personalities through the ages have commented on, other than the power of love, the passage of time and the mistake of wasting it has to be on the top of such lists. From Aristotle, Shakespeare, Franklin, and Thoreau, the list goes on and on. Every person faces the reality and implications of the sands of the hour glass beginning to run out. Some well known and not so well known quotes on time:
“Lost time is never found again.” — Benjamin Franklin
"Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away. " — Marcus Aurelius
“Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.” — Will Rogers
Buddhist monks remind themselves of their pending demise. Known as Maraṇasati or having a mindfulness on death, they engage in a practice acknowledging that death can strike at any time, and that death is inevitable, and with such a powerful reminder, one realizes the power of being in the present moment and what a waste to take way from the joy and bliss of simply being alive.
In the Christian faith, devout followers of Christ would contemplate death as a reminder of their own mortality but also the eternal hope from the resurrection of Jesus that awaits them. Common during Medieval times, images of skulls would not be viewed as morbid but as a reminder to be hopeful, joyful and bring focus to one’s limited time in this world.
I recently came across the well known Yogi and mystic, Sadhguru, who summed it up quite powerfully and in stark language of how time is ticking away:
“What is ticking away is not a clock. What is ticking away is your life.”
Regardless of your religious faith (or even if you have no faith in a higher source at all), it is how we choose to live that life is what stands out to me. For with everything in this life, what we create or how we respond, is within our control. Should we experience this life in misery and conflict with others, or should we experience joy and bliss? Should we experience this life with doubts and fear, or should we experience it from a place of love and peace? Should we experience a life of connection or a life of an alienated heart?
What is absolutely true is that it is up to each of us as to how we want to experience this one precious life. What will fill our hearts and souls? For some it may be peacefully sitting alone by a lake admiring the morning sun gently reflecting off its glass like surface. For others it may be relishing the life of those we love and care about surrounded by family and friends in raucous laughter and love. It may be both. For one, it may be a life spent alone happy with oneself as their primary company. For another, it may be a fulfilling career and loving family. In the end, it doesn’t matter at all other than it is your choice. A choice that is your birthright. A choice to live your life the way that you desire. The way that brings you fulfillment. The way that brings you happiness or wholeness. The way that moves you toward your authentic purpose, connected and with an open and connected heart toward others and everything around you. It is your intentions and moment of creation from one moment to the next that determines and shapes this wondrous experience. Unfortunately, most of us forget that we have such a choice (including myself) and we lapse into the malaise of letting time just slip on by or create a helpless existence that is far from wondrous.
This choice is a power and responsibility that cannot be passed on to anyone else. It must be sacredly invoked by you and you alone. It cannot come from seeking the approval or validation or even love from others as society gently manipulates us with its social expectations of what constitutes a good person or good life. Hallmark has made a fortune on such internal stories. For you see, worthiness, or self-love disguised as outward receipt of love, can’t come from a card, a parent, a sibling, a spouse, a family member, a friend, or even a child, it must come from within you. To seek and find that place in your heart is not categorically selfish in the negative sense as some may perceive. It must be experienced so that it can ring true no matter what life throws at you. To do otherwise moves you into that dark place that you are controlled by the external world or others and that is simply not true. It is a false trap waiting to ensnare you in its unforgiving ropes. Forcing you to struggle to free yourself from the judgment of others, and most importantly the judgment from your so called self, disguised as your ego.
In the end, your ability to choose is your superpower. Do not waste it. Speaking from experience, lost time cannot be recovered but there is always tomorrow until there is not. As Andy Dufresne famously told Red in Shawshank Redemption, its a rather simple choice.
So I leave you with the first day of my next 1,242 weeks (hopefully more) knowing what my daily choice and reminder will be as time keeps “slippin’ away.” What will your choice be?