To value time is to value life. A student, looking at the ticking clock during her final exam, with a list of queries still to be resolved, knows the value of time. A pregnant woman who has gone beyond her delivery date, realises the repercussions of the unborn child staying in the womb any longer than required. A falsely accused prisoner, clinging on to the last few breaths of life, knows the value of the moments they have lost with their family and friends. Yet, ordinarily one fails to value time. Such is life.
How can we learn to give proper significance to the fleeting phenomenon of time? Introspection is definitely an integral process in achieving this skill. Reflecting within helps us acknowledge what is really worthwhile in life, and what is, in fact, futile.
What is first and foremost is our physical well-being. We owe it to ourselves to take the necessary time to take good care of this physical frame of ours. After all, a healthy body is a prerequisite for a sound mind. For instance, a person battling against an illness gets so consumed with the ailment itself that he finds it difficult to devote time to other important aspects of life. Not only that, the ailing person knowingly or unknowingly ends up depending on others, whether they are health professionals, friends or relatives. Maintaining a healthy physical body is a great personal responsibility.
Next, we need to spend time with our loved ones, without succumbing to the 21st Century fallacy that love and affection for those who are near and dear to us can be replaced with material objects. Ironically, parents are often found to say, ‘I’m working long hours so that I can provide all the things for my children, that I did not have’, or ‘I’ll be picking up extra shifts so that I can get all the things my son or daughter wants’. However, various polls suggest our parents had happier childhoods than we did. We, in turn, had a happier childhood than our own children. It is no surprise to see an 8 year-old, complaining about stress at school or even at home. During our parents’ time or for that matter when we were growing up, the words stress, cyber bullying, depression and peer pressure simply did not exist.
This suggests there has been a major shift in the social and emotional experience of today’s children, adolescents and young adults. This shift is largely thought to be a consequence of the lack of quality time spent with family and loved ones. Our children, before we know it, reach a stage where quality time begins to sound like a cliché. Our relatives come to associate quality time with selfish motives. In acquiring material objects, akin to filling a bottomless pit, precious time is lost forever. It can never be retrieved. It is, therefore, crucial to take our time out for our children.
Last of all, but certainly by no means the least, is to devote some time to our self. A routine evaluation of where we stand, and how we take care of ourselves, should be taken. There may be many ways to improve the care and attention we give to our internal lives, whether this be socially, emotionally or spiritually. My personal experience with the Sant Nirankari Mission and its Oneness Gatherings, is that spirituality can bring our holistic needs together, into a harmonious way of being. Through the Mission, I have truly found my inner-self, and developed practices that help me maintain my emotional health and keep my spirits raised.
Spirituality invites a wholesome life. It equips us with the requisite tools, skills and guidance to find the much needed balance between the external and internal world. For real health, we need to invest in both the physical and spiritual dimensions of our being. When we do this, it is much more likely we spend our days well, and these days add up to make both the history and future of our lives.
In the final analysis, let’s take that vital step towards valuing time. For, once the fleeting moments disappear, they are never to be seen again. Now is the time to grasp every precious moment to be alive, to know and become more aware. There is an essence that animates every aspect of existence, and unifies all life. Understanding this essence whilst there is yet breath within us, is the most important task we can accomplish within the time that has been gifted to us as human beings.
– Kiran Pandey, New York
