Dear You,
With no expectation (and little hope) of increasing my wealth beyond my pension, my chief source of income now is time . . . a dwindling resource, one to be hoarded. As a result, I have no wish to spend it in occupations I dislike.
In recent years I have been declining invitations, and I have done my best to avoid the company of disagreeable persons. I leave it to others to increase someone's happiness in those instances where I can find better uses of my time.
For instance, by finding time to be alone. As it turns out I enjoy my own company; I have learned that solitude has nothing whatsoever to do with loneliness. "I'm bored" has not crossed my lips -- perhaps ever. Certainly not in my memory. And I am astonished to hear it from others. Indeed, it is one of the litmus tests about someone as to whether I might like to spend time or energy on them: "Tell, me. Under what circumstances are you bored?" Any answer but 'None!' would be the wrong one.
It is a crowded and noisy world -- I need no more distractions as I continue to search for what nourishes me.
Showing posts with label time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label time. Show all posts
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Budgeting
Dear You,
Over the years I've come to understand that we have only two things to spend: Time and Money. It is also clear to me that no one spends these things in the same way.
My mind goes back to a moment when I was standing in an electronics store with my then-wife (I'll call her M. here . . . and whenever she pops up in my musings). I was looking at a turntable, and when M. said, "But you don't need it" I answered, "I want it." The comeback was quick: "Well, that's it then." She understood the difference before I did. (I add, with a pang, that I was neither so wise nor generous, when some weeks later M. wanted to purchase some things for the house that we might both have enjoyed. Ahhh, hindsight.)
Time is the same way. Thoreau remarked, "As if you can kill Time without injuring Eternity." Smart guy, Henry D. If I spend time writing my thoughts in this blog instead of, say, re-reading "Walden," who is to say yes or no to that?
Whatever the commodity, the key is budgeting. One of these days the Money may run out. For certain, Time will.
Over the years I've come to understand that we have only two things to spend: Time and Money. It is also clear to me that no one spends these things in the same way.
My mind goes back to a moment when I was standing in an electronics store with my then-wife (I'll call her M. here . . . and whenever she pops up in my musings). I was looking at a turntable, and when M. said, "But you don't need it" I answered, "I want it." The comeback was quick: "Well, that's it then." She understood the difference before I did. (I add, with a pang, that I was neither so wise nor generous, when some weeks later M. wanted to purchase some things for the house that we might both have enjoyed. Ahhh, hindsight.)
Time is the same way. Thoreau remarked, "As if you can kill Time without injuring Eternity." Smart guy, Henry D. If I spend time writing my thoughts in this blog instead of, say, re-reading "Walden," who is to say yes or no to that?
Whatever the commodity, the key is budgeting. One of these days the Money may run out. For certain, Time will.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Living in real time
Dear You,
Behind the cliche lies truth. Just because so many others have observed that the country is really, really big doesn't make this knowledge less dramatic for me this morning. When I awakened in Seattle, my watch said it was 8 o'clock . . . but the clock in the living room was chiming 5. Three hours earlier, back in Rochester, people were getting up to prepare for work, and I'd gone to bed only three or so hours earlier -- 1:30 a.m. on my watch, but just 10:30 on the nearby clock . . .
I suppose that many people who arrived here from the East three days ago reset their watches. Knowing I would be returning on Tuesday, I kept mine the same. In a sense, then, I've been living a couple of lives -- one here, the other there. When I look at the time automatically displayed on my cell phone, and I decide to call someone across the country, I consult my watch and think, "well, they may still be awake at this hour" or "oops, they're already at work by now!".
As fish live in water and birds in air, we live in time. It's such a cliche, but never more true for me at this moment than now . . . and now . . . and now.
Behind the cliche lies truth. Just because so many others have observed that the country is really, really big doesn't make this knowledge less dramatic for me this morning. When I awakened in Seattle, my watch said it was 8 o'clock . . . but the clock in the living room was chiming 5. Three hours earlier, back in Rochester, people were getting up to prepare for work, and I'd gone to bed only three or so hours earlier -- 1:30 a.m. on my watch, but just 10:30 on the nearby clock . . .
I suppose that many people who arrived here from the East three days ago reset their watches. Knowing I would be returning on Tuesday, I kept mine the same. In a sense, then, I've been living a couple of lives -- one here, the other there. When I look at the time automatically displayed on my cell phone, and I decide to call someone across the country, I consult my watch and think, "well, they may still be awake at this hour" or "oops, they're already at work by now!".
As fish live in water and birds in air, we live in time. It's such a cliche, but never more true for me at this moment than now . . . and now . . . and now.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Retiring
Dear You,
Retirement is not such a big word, but it means big things. It's full of tension: a pulling away from something big, and (if you are lucky) a drawing toward something, perhaps equally big.
It also means the difference from a sort of public life toward one much more private. During your working years, you're out there. Meeting people, being treated as someone to pay attention to. It is interesting to see how, during the retirement years, you move so unnoticed through the world. It's like going through the Mall of Life -- "No thank you, I'm just looking," if you're addressed at all.
As a male, I certainly drew much personal meaning from my job. Who are you? I'm a Schoolteacher. What am I now? A retiree -- is there anything more generic?
The "toward" after the "away from" is Time. We exist in time, and when you are working, those hours, while remunerated in various ways, are dedicated to something outside yourself. In my case adolescents and all their many needs. In retirement, however, if you work it right, Dear You, your time is your own. Be creative today, I tell myself each morning. Wake up early, it's Time.
Retirement is not such a big word, but it means big things. It's full of tension: a pulling away from something big, and (if you are lucky) a drawing toward something, perhaps equally big.
It also means the difference from a sort of public life toward one much more private. During your working years, you're out there. Meeting people, being treated as someone to pay attention to. It is interesting to see how, during the retirement years, you move so unnoticed through the world. It's like going through the Mall of Life -- "No thank you, I'm just looking," if you're addressed at all.
As a male, I certainly drew much personal meaning from my job. Who are you? I'm a Schoolteacher. What am I now? A retiree -- is there anything more generic?
The "toward" after the "away from" is Time. We exist in time, and when you are working, those hours, while remunerated in various ways, are dedicated to something outside yourself. In my case adolescents and all their many needs. In retirement, however, if you work it right, Dear You, your time is your own. Be creative today, I tell myself each morning. Wake up early, it's Time.
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