The Gift of Time

Anatole France, “To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe.” Do you start the day with a plan of what you want to accomplish? Or do you spend the day rushing from one brush fire to the next, meanwhile the logjam of what you really want to accomplish builds up behind you? I do both. When I realize how much is beyond my control, I often throw my plan out the window, especially when I am stressed trying to be perfect or do things perfectly.  When I am stressed I begin to make mistakes. When I make mistakes, it’s easy to get caught in the past. I give away my energy to days and events that no longer exist. Then I lose sight of my true power and purpose. I forget that I am free to change – to refine, improve, or enhance myself at any moment.

You can restart your day at any time. What if you could erase, forgive or go beyond all your past mistakes and start fresh? Every spring garden every spring starts fresh; you prepare the soil to receive the new seeds. Imagine that you are this soil; forgive yourself a little while you aerate your dreams. While aerating the soil, you make more room for your dreams to come forward, more room for you to empower yourself. For your goals, and aspirations to grow they need time to germinate, and time to be nurtured.  What would you do if you were given a block of time to work on your dreams?  

A few weekends ago I had the opportunity to spend the weekend alone. What a gift this was going to be! I planned to devote the whole weekend to digging into my writing projects. Instead Saturday friends visited and I cooked. No writing was accomplished. Sunday I had reached a choice point, could I forgive myself for not using the time as planned and become willing to sit down and work? Or was I going to wallow in past emotion and dig myself into a hole? When I get caught in “great expectations” I trip on the disappointments that follow closely behind, and I can’t see the forest because there’s a tree in the way. The gifts of that weekend were not what I expected; I gained forgiveness for needing to be perfect. I saw the difference between procrastination and nurturance, and I felt grateful for that time. While feeling that forgiveness, I chose to work; created a blog idea, wrote a few posts and an article that appeared in this column. I felt free to be productive.

So that's the exercise we’ll work on this week. I now bestow a gift of time on you, time alone. How will you spend it? Expectations will creep up, notice them and choose a different path. Are you ready to see what the gift of this time will bring? How would you spend this time so that on you will feel joyful and happy about what you did? You will choose the amount of time; it can vary according to your schedule, and lifestyle. What will you do with this gift? Will you set aside time and not let any brush fires or logjams get in your way? Maybe you will see a move one step closer to accomplishing your goals? Don’t forget to write about this experience.

Any questions? I am happy to answer them here. You too can have your name in print.