Time Lost & Found

Of all places, to read an article - April 2010, Sunset Magazine, that hits home with my Mondo Beyondo Class. So mainstream! The article "Time Lost & Found" by Anne Lamott spoke to me enough that I underlined throughout the article, as well as tore it out of my brand new magazine.

"-that there is nothing you can buy, achieve on your own, or rent that can fill up that hunger inside for a sense of fulfillment & wonder. But the good news is that creative expression, whether that means writing,dancing, bird-watching, or cooking, can give a person almost everything that he or she has been searching for : enlivenment, peace, meaning, & the incalculable wealth of time spent quietly in beauty."

When I read it, I obviously knew this was no nature essay. She goes on: "You have to make time to do this" Time yes, I'm always trying to find it. Where is it hiding? Under the bed? In the closet? Just when I think I can grab a handful of time, it surges through my hand spurting here and there, leaving quickly fading spot on my shirt. Catch it!  I have an hour! No wait! - its 30 minutes. Ten. A second! Wait! Wait! Don't go!

Don't be so fleeting!  Can't you stay awhile longer?

She goes on to advise, advice I've heard before. Advice that is relevant & true. Find a way to make the time - don't watch the news, give up time else where. Don't be so neurotic about having a clean house. Commit! Commit to writing a page each night, or drawing, or going out to take pictures. Julia Cameron, in The Artist Way advised once a week to go on an artist walk.

Anne Lamott goes on to state" "I know how addictive busyness & mania are". She asks is this how we want our children to grow up - . . ."to spend their precious life in a spin of multitasking, stress & achievement. . ." No I don't! As she states I want ". . . much more for (my) kids, (to have) lives well spent in hard work & savoring all that is lovely . . ." So how am I fostering this in my kids? Am I allowing them enough time to hone their imagination? To be outside, reveling in the pill bug turning into a ball, jumping into puddles, taking them to the local museum? Honest answer - sometimes, when the schedule is not full of piano lessons, dance, swim, baseball, CCD.

Anne Lamott ends this article with:

" . . . you need half an hour of quiet time for yourself, or your Self, unless you're incredibly busy & stressed, in which case you need an hour. . . . . Fight tooth & nail to find time, to make it. It is our true wealth, this moment, this hour, this day."

Thank you Anne Lamott! Thank You! I will fight tooth & nail for it!