Collecting Stories on Time

Today I heard Jim Croce's voice, "If I could put time in a bottle....", I am sure you know the rest. I have images of the bottle being the one you throw out into the ocean with a message hoping for some Divine connection.

Then I read: There is more to life than increasing it's speed attributed to M. Ghandi and I breathe deeply into this moment wondering, "what is my relationship to speeding?"

What I think is interesting is my perspective on women in Judaism. There has always been a place for us, relegated to time. More on this later.

Gail told me a story she heard from an inspirational speaker about time. There was taxi driver who was trying to make as much money as he could, picking up fares, dropping them off and looking for the next fare. One day he was sent to pick-up a women and take her to Hospice. It was her time to go, she said, and there was no one to say good bye to.

Well, apparently, these words, this woman, the story touched the taxi cab driver's heart. He began talking with her about her life, what had brought her to the city, where she had lived beside where he had picked her up. And she responded to his questions. As he headed off toward Hospice, he decided he was going to take his time with this 'fare' and drive her around the city for her last tour. She was delighted with his attention.

The key teaching, I was told, is the greatest gift you can give anyone is time. And if you put yourself on the list, then you can give yourself the gift of time, also. And attention is love, I have been told.

So, what have you been thinking about time? How do you spend your time? How do you give it away? What was your response to your generosity? How are you creative with time?

Barry Oshry created a workshop simulation where during the three hour process the facilitators call "time out." And for the next 20 minutes people are asked to stop, reflect and share their experiences with one another. Then the simulation begins again.

How often do I do that? Probably not enough. And now that I have thought about it, maybe i will do it more. In Action Learning at the Center for Creative Leadership "stop, reflect, write" are key components to keep people in the learning mindset.

Maybe today, I will take some time to give me attention by stopping, reflecting, breathing and listening to my heart, my body, my mind and then laugh with joy at being with me!

And, I have noticed that since I have been focusing on time, I have been slowing my driving down just a bit.