TML CLASSICS: Most Widely Read — A 2015 Favorite, Reposted

“A little bit of something,” they say, “is better than a whole lot of nothing.”

Are they right?

Time and experience teach us that sometimes, the wrong something costs more than the right nothing. How we perceive a little bit of time is significant to how we allocate a whole lot of space. Most of us do not realize how fast time goes by. It sprints. Hours molt into months, months shed into years, and still the world keeps turning the page. A mayfly measures a morning, elephants and dolphins measure decades, a mosquito can only live for a period of about seven days—each one a whole life.

In the vastness of time and space, every life is both brief and complete. Human beings can typically live to about one hundred, while some insects are born at dawn and dead by dusk. However, the measure of time teaches us that the quiet gap—the unfilled space—can be holy.

Timing is a teacher. Move too fast and you bruise trust; too slow and you miss the door. We all hold the same twenty-four, but some days feel like a blink and others like a sentence. For some, every second is a spark. For others, the clock drags like wet wool. Time measures more than hours; it reveals our priorities, our relationships, and our capacity to be present. Each individual is allotted the same amount of time in a single day, yet some people never seem to have enough. Life never remains still, and the lesson is this: intention is everything. How we spend our time shapes who we become.  

There are many different types of people and circumstances throughout this life. Some are homeless and heavy-hearted, while others are land-rich and still hungry. They possess so much land that they even want to own a piece of the moon. Many are stressed by work and depressed by life. When the days become unbearable, they chase relief in stamped passports and room-service silence, hoping to find new ways to release. This kind of effort relieves the pressing complexity but can never liberate one’s state of mind, time, and space. Therefore, one must master how to mentally liberate himself within his immediate space of time.

“If the mind is a cell, a jet can’t open the door. Liberation begins inside the room you’re already in.” – Rochelle Soetan

One unfortunate condition of today’s society is that we are blessed with the gift of life in a single time capsule but too often, we forget to appreciate the magic that has brought us here. Time is the arbiter of one’s character. Rich or poor, right or wrong, love or hatred, success or failure, noble or base – a person’s true character will become evident over time. Time is most impartial. It doesn’t bargain. The rich don’t get a bonus minute; the poor don’t lose a second. We can’t hoard hours with muscle or money. We can only choose to spend time like smoke, or plant it like seed—on living, loving, listening, and learning.

Mindfulness is a teacher of time, too.

When we pay attention, everything becomes a syllabus. A failed exam. A lover’s no. A baby who comes before the plan. A missed flight that dodges disaster. A car accident. The hand you held at the last breath—and the hands you chose not to hold. Life is fragile and illusive like a flower. It can be easily crushed. Honor the clock. Honor the people assigned to your watch. The only real time we can touch is now.

We’ve all traded, stumbled, stitched, and started over. If we could rewind, many of us would. We’d make choices and changes. But that’s the thing about time and space; both are infinite and intimate—galaxies above us, grains within us. Maybe the work is to not race the clock, but to let time teach us. To measure magic, not minute. To choose quality over clutter. To widen the room for breath, so that the ordinary can become extraordinary. Life expands. Fulfillment deepens. Clarity is valued.

Even when we aren’t moving along, in essence, time is.

We’re at the mouth of a new season. The power of now invites a triple R: Reflect. Restore. Reboot. Don’t sprint for outcomes. Use what you already hold. Name what you’re truly after, and where you’re willing to go to meet it. Let yourself keep a sacred gap—room for grace to enter—rather than living a life packed to the brim with what you never wanted.

Sometimes, the right kind of nothing is the most generous something you can give yourself.

love and light for your path!