Every time I walk on the beach with my family, I keep an eye out for sea glass. These are broken shards of old green, blue and white glass bottles that have washed ashore, weathered over time by the sea and sand into smooth, rounded translucent shapes.
On each of my walks, I find a few tiny fragments that I take home to add to the big, beautiful jars full in my kitchen. In the sunshine, I found myself reflecting on this fact, in its wider context. Small fragments, added together over time, can turn into something wonderful.
There’s a clock called The Present that hangs on my wall behind the computer. It is a special clock, given to me by one of my readers. It takes one year for the hands to go round, and every time I look at it, it challenges me to think about time in a more long-term way.
The designer, Scott Thrift, believed that it is impossible to live in the present moment if we see time pass incrementally second by second, rather than in large expanses of time, like seasons. And it’s only by reflecting on our past experiences weeks or months afterwards that we can properly appreciate those past moments. This clock helps me to slow down and to concentrate my attention on the present.
A quote from Tony Robbins sticks in my mind:
“Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year – and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade!”
We can often become overwhelmed with responding to daily needs, and we may forget the power of taking just one small step towards something big, on a day-by-day basis. Therefore, I feel it is important for me to design my life to spend at least some of my time taking small steps that will take me to greater places in the long term.
Time is just a concept, yet we have been trained to account for it by the hour. We have far more time than we realise. We can achieve so much more than we think, if we focus on the powerful long-term shifts of which we are capable.
If one has the right relationship with time, making that long-term shift to a life you love, or finding a seemingly unimaginable solution to a problem is possible.
You see, what you are doing in the next few hours, minutes and days matters far less than what you do in the years and the decades to come.
- What kind of life could you be living in a decade’s time?
- What are the small, seemingly insignificant steps that will take you there?
- What can you do today, that will have an impact the years to come?
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Enjoyed the read. Reminded me of this quote: “There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called Yesterday and the other is called Tomorrow. Today is the right day to Love, Believe, Do and mostly Live.” ― Dalai Lama XIV
Thanks Marc, this is just what I needed to read this morning (and I’m sure just what many of your other readers needed too!) I am going to get myself one of those clocks!!
It is so true that time is a man made concept! We never make the time to do the things that we treasure the most – instead saving it for another more suitable ‘time’. – Which inevitably never really comes. Family holidays, beach walks with the kids,
chatting to loved ones on the phone, creating a beautiful meal… the list goes on and on.
It is not until we are faced with living our possible ‘last day on earth’ that we decide what is really important! Let’s start by creating time and enjoying every last moment without guilt or rush…