Nature Notice: Timing… Time Timing… time.

What an interesting concept.

We are taught from the time we’re young that we must be on time.

On time for school.

On time for work.

On time for appointments.

On time for life.

We measure everything.

Twenty-four hours in a day.

Sixty minutes in an hour.

Sixty seconds in a minute.

We put our lives into boxes of years.

Boxes of months.

Boxes of days.

Hours.

Minutes.

And then we start putting ourselves into those boxes, too.

You should have accomplished this by this age.

You should own a house by now.

You should be married by this time.

You should have children by this age.

You should be further along.

You should have figured it out by now.

There is a deadline.

A timeframe.

A timeline.

A schedule.

A constraint.

And suddenly, we’re not just keeping track of time.

We’re measuring ourselves against it.

But what is time?

Perhaps time, as we understand it, is simply a concept we’ve created to organize our experience of being here.

And somewhere along the way, that useful measurement became a constraint.

A box.

Then another box.

And another.

Until we begin believing that our lives are supposed to happen according to someone else’s clock.

But look at nature.

A seed doesn’t ask what month it is before it begins growing.

A tree doesn’t look at the tree beside it and wonder why it isn’t growing at the same rate.

A flower doesn’t panic because it hasn’t bloomed yet.

The seasons don’t rush each other.

Nature has timing.

But it doesn’t seem obsessed with deadlines.

There is a time for everything.

A time to grow.

A time to rest.

A time to begin.

A time to end.

A time to move.

A time to be still.

A time to bloom.

A time to fall away.

But somewhere in all of our schedules…

there seems to be a time for everything except peace.

Except no time.

No timeline.

No place you have to be.

No thing you have to accomplish.

Just…

you.

There is a time for everything else.

Except you.

So maybe you have to make time.

Not find it.

Not wait for it.

Make it.

Create your own time.

Create your own peace.

Create your own rhythm.

Create your own timeline.

And if you need constraints, let them be yours.

Because your life does not have to happen according to someone else’s clock.

Maybe you’re not late.

Maybe you’re not behind.

Maybe you’re not supposed to be where someone else’s timeline says you should be.

Maybe you’re simply living your life in the timing that belongs to you.

So today, step outside.

Watch something in nature.

A tree.

A cloud.

A bird.

A flower.

Notice how little concern it seems to have about the clock.

And ask yourself:

Where have I allowed someone else’s timeline to become my own?

And perhaps even more importantly…

Where do I need to create time for me?

Because when there is a time for everything else…

YOU create TIME.

For you.

Nature has something to teach us today.

The question is… are we paying attention?

Jen

Nature’s Renewal