"You will never find time for anything. If you want the time, you must make it."
- Charles Buxton
So, today I stumbled across this quote--just when I am beginning to feel there is NEVER "enough time" to accomplish all I want to do....the universe sends me the answer. (thank you)
The concept of "finding time" is a bit esoteric anyway---where has time been lost? It certainly not lost like being lost in a forest...wasted, perhaps...but not lost. But do we really "waste" time? When I examine how I "waste" time--I see what I consider wasting time might only be a much necessary way of relaxing, of renewing myself, or of processing our overly busy culture--so I can be creative when I "make the time." Is time spent drinking tea and reading the newspaper, or a magazine wasteful--soley because the out come shows nothing productive? Is time only valuable if one is productive? I know that thinking (my Mom called it "daydreaming"---and sometimes chastised me for it, usually when she was trying to get me to finish a hated chore) and imagining is a necessary part of my creative process...but do we ever plan for just day dreaming time? yeah, pencil that one into your schedule: 2:00 pm daydreaming, 2:30 pm nap, 3:00pm resume painting
Rather --daydreaming and imagining ( I think of it as designing or painting in my mind) tend to happen when I walk outside, or as I am falling asleep, and usually in a solitary setting---but, somehow in my mind there is still that shadow of a thought--that when I daydream (or sit doing nothing) I am "wasting" valuable time, even though intellectually I now know this concept is not true---daydreaming has been given a bad rap in our culture, and part of me has bought into this notion.
When we were home schooling 2 small children (in the Alaskan bush), I kept this famous and wonderful Albert Einstein quote in our schooling area: "Imagination is more important than knowledge." Imagination...fostered by daydreaming--let's all do it! (and transform the world) --- maybe together we can restore daydreaming to its deserving and rightful valuable place in our culture. I think I shall now go for a walk and do some thinking...or daydreaming.
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2 months ago
3 comments:
mom this day dreaming...is exactly what i do when i go to alaska...i fill my soul with day dreaming or as dad calls it "filling up my tanks". maybe this is something that is seriously missing from our culture if we need to pencil it in...
Kes
mom this is what alaska is for me...time to day dream or as dad calls it "filling up my soul tank"...maybe that is what is wrong with our culture when we have to pencil it in to do such a much needed time to reflect....
Here's another thought--
"Make Time for Yourself - or Everyone else Will."
by Kim Essenpreis and Vickie Brown, borrowed from a card from Kate Harper Designs (Berkeley CA!) I have kept it around my lving space for some time now.
Now that I'm retired I still have to be wary not to succumb to creeping guilt about not "doing enough" on any given day. So many years of working by someone else's schedule is hard to overcome! But I have been more consciously taking time for various kinds of enjoyment during my day, something like your idea of scheduling daydreaming. It has had a wonderfully positive effect on my life.
==>Lee
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