Have you ever heard of a Charity for Time?

Have you ever thought about the idea of a “charity” for time? What would one of these be like if one did exist? We have charities for people who are down on their money and charitable organizations that provide meals and other non-profit services. What if we had charities for people who needed time? I suppose when people volunteer their time as for Habitat for Humanity, it is a form of time charity. Wikipedia has the following to say about the word charity:

"The word "charity" entered the English language through the Old French word "charité" which was derived from the Latin "caritas". Originally, in Latin the word caritas meant preciousness, dearness, high price. From this, in Christian theology, caritas became the standard Latin translation for the Greek word agapē, meaning an unlimited loving-kindness to all others."

The thoughts contained in this definition are very beautiful: Preciousness, dearness, kindness, can you think of any better words to describe a donation of ones time. Sometimes, we hear the word “pro-bono” applied to a donation of time by lawyers and consultants. Again, in Wikipedia we find the following:

"Pro-bono publico (often shortened to pro bono) is a phrase derived from Latin meaning "for the public good". It is used to designate legal or other professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment."

We can find many examples of people and organizations volunteering their time through some form of official channel, but we still do not find structured “charities for time” where anyone can go who needs time. A time charity could either lend you time or ask you to replace any time borrowed with a commitment of your own time at a later date. If you simply needed your lawn cut and did not have time to do it, you would call the “time charity” and say “I need some time.” The exchange would not involve money, but rather a simple donation or exchange of time later. In a society where time is so short and precious, it would be interesting to see some group who could coordinate on a large scale the donations of time.

Have you ever needed time and not had enough money to buy help? Would you volunteer to be a member of a time charity if you could repay the time given later? Can you think of anything better to donate than time? Is money as good a donation as time? Do you volunteer your time now as well as your money to help others?

Why do Americans score so poorly in the time spent on their children?

Parenting time is increasingly scarce in today’s world. With global competition fueling longer working hours and dual career families, it becomes very difficult to find the time to spend with our children. Parenting time (as the experts suggest) should be quality time and this means more than just sitting in front of a TV or a movie with our children. It means interacting with them in a meaningful way.

The definition of a parent is someone who begets or gives birth to a child or someone who is the guardian of a child and looks out for their best interests. Part of a child’s best interests comes from regular interaction with a parent, teacher or role model. Parents teach children by example the lessons they need to be successful in life. Much of this takes place vicariously but some takes place in the form of stories, lessons, lectures, sayings, family traditions and family interaction. Some recent studies have cast doubts on the quality of life for children being raised in the U.S. and Great Britain. A UNICEF study of 21 of the most highly developed countries in the world rated the quality of life for children in the U.S as next to last. Only Great Britain scored worse. How is it that in the most powerful and most economically developed nation in the world, children can not find a good place to grow up? Are we all so busy that we have no time for our children? Is work and growing an economy only done at the expense of the young?

The report noted: “Where Britain and America really score badly, however, is in the categories of relationships and risky behavior. British and American children apparently spend less time (and eat fewer meals) with their parents, compared with the other countries, and seem to be somewhat less happy with their friends and in school (The Economist, Feb 14th 2007). The evidence suggests then that time is the most critical variable. However, how can we have time for our kids, when we are too busy earning money to spend on them? It is a bit of a paradox. American children probably have more toys than any children in the world. The UNICEF study suggests it is not toys they want but time.

Do you spend time with you children each day? Do you make sure you have quality time with your children and meaningful interaction? Are you a role model for your children or do you teach them to “do as I say and not as I do?” Do you think your children will grow up and want to be the same kind of parent you were for them? If not, why not?

Are you a hero? What is a hero?

No time for heroes- In an article by Bernie Reeves (May 2001), he writes: “Yet, even the most decorated veterans of the World War II era make it clear that they did not set out to become heroes, they just did their job. Heroes, it seems, are not born but created by events. And the events have to be interpreted in the right light to qualify for hero creation.” We have seen periods in history where heroes were laughed at as romantic fools and other periods where the lack of heroes was bemoaned. Since 911, it seems that we are on the upswing, with heroism being lauded practically daily in the news or TV media. We have seen anti-heroes, superheroes, cowards who become heroes and people for whom heroism is a part of their daily job. At one point, a hero was anyone who risked their life to save others when they were under no obligation to do so. We did not think of a hero or heroine as someone “just” doing their job. Today though, doctors, soldiers, nurses, fire-people and police are all hailed as heroes. There was a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson called “Richard Cory” in which everyone admired and envied the dapper and suave Mr. Cory.

In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us with that we were in his place,

And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.

Dr. Ossian Sweet, (1905-1960) an African American man who stood up for what he believed and was a hero by any stretch of the imagination said: "I have to die a man or live a coward." Dr. Sweet tried his hand at politics, running four times and losing each time. He married his childhood sweetheart but divorced and remarried; the second also ending in divorce. In 1960, after years of ill health and depression, he was found dead, a bullet through his head and a revolver in his hand. It is tough work being a hero.

We admire heroes and heroines and the world is a better place because of them. We each wonder in our hearts when we hear about some heroic episode what we would have done. Would we have just stood there watching or would we have run into the burning house, jumped into the icy pond or charged the raging bull. I hope that our world will always have a time for heroes and heroines and not make a mockery of their bravery by downgrading it to merely living. People who become heroes and heroines may not be any different from the rest of us, but in that one second where they act and behave differently and thereby challenge the status quo, it forever puts them in a new league. They may never be able to live up to the expectations that attend their heroism but we should all be forever grateful to them for those few seconds of action. Heroes and heroines show us a world that could be when selfishness and greed are cast aside for love and loyalty.

Where do heroes/heroines get the time? Where do they get the courage? How many of us would risk our lives for an idea, for someone we did not know, for a principle that most people would hate us for upholding? Are we all heroes for going about our daily lives and trying to live the best we can? Or should the label be reserved for those special men and women who put their lives on the line at a time when most of the rest of the world will just stand by watching?

What about stages for time as we age?

Autumn – We have talked about fall and autumn as seasons and what that brings, but what about the autumn of our lives? When does that start? What would the seasons of our lives bring us? The winter, summer, spring and fall of life. In terms of years, lest us say that spring is 0-25, summer is 25-50, fall is 50-75 and winter is 75-100? If so, I am right in the center of the fall of my life. Will the fall of life be anything like the fall season? Will my skin change color and my hair fall out? I think my hair fell out about 25 years ago, sometime in my summer.

Physically, my body is not getting any better and my joints and muscles ache a whole lot more than they used to. Emotionally, I am now more stable, less volatile, more predictable, and less anxious about life. Spiritually, I can see more value in peace, harmony and the various virtues such as love, humility, patience and kindness. I would like to say that I feel more satisfied with myself in these areas and less prone to attack or defend myself against perceived slights. Are these conditions consistent with the autumn of our lives?

Where is the Piagetian scale for what happens to us after 25 years of age? Piaget described the following stages of development:

1.Sensor-motor stage: from birth to age 2 years (children experience the world through movement and senses and learn object permanence)

2.Preoperational stage: from ages 2 to 7 (acquisition of motor skills)

3.Concrete operational stage: from ages 7 to 11 (children begin to think logically about concrete events)

4.Formal operational stage: after age 11 (development of abstract reasoning.

Thats it folks! There are no stages for us as we grow through the summer, autumn and winter of our lives! Here is an opportunity for a new scale. It could even lead to a book on "The Stages of Aging." Perhaps, the autumn and winter of our lives have similar crisis points that we all share in common in terms of spiritual, emotional, mental and physical development. I suspect there are common stages we will all progress through and that our developmental stages do not end at age 11 or even age 25.

We will all continue to face new challenges and new opportunities for growth.The autumn of our lives will see us cast off some of the old and used leafs and prepare for new growth that will inevitably come. What season of life are you in? What leafs do you need to get rid of? What new growth do you think awaits you?

I have to make up some time today. Can we really make up time?

Making up time! It’s very frustrating to try and make up time. We try to make up time when we have spent too much time on one task and then have several other tasks to complete. Like a game of follow the leader, we rush to make up time just as when we get too far behind the leader. If you have ever ridden in a group of motorcycles, you know this phenomenon very well. The farther you get behind the pack, the faster you must go to catch up. If you are a slower rider, you alternate between getting behind and then hurrying to catch up again to the pack. For many of us, life can seem like a big game of “catch up” because we are forever getting behind and having to catch up again. Can we make up the time we have lost?

When the plane leaves the gate late, will it make up enough time in flight to get us to our next flight or appointment on time? Can I make up the time I lost this morning by driving a little faster or taking a shortcut to work? What can I cut out or cut down on today to make up the time I need for that project that is due Monday? We are constantly trying to figure out how to make up time. What if you had a big box of “make up time?” Whenever you got behind, instead of rushing and strategizing, you would only need to go to your box of “make up time” and take out how much you needed. It would sure make our lives less crazy.

I wonder how many days “making up” time takes off our lives in terms of added stress and worry. What if you said: “The hell with making up time, I will resolve never to worry about making up time again?” This could be harder to stick to than a diet. Maybe such a resolution would help, maybe it would not. It might just create another source of stress in your life. Nevertheless, I think it helps to look at the “cost” of making up time. It is never free.

Are you continually making up time in your daily life? Does it create stress and panic for you? How could you manage your life so that you did not need to make up so much time? What would be different about your life if you did?

How can we help our children avoid our mistakes?

“Sunrise, Sunset, swiftly flow the days, one season following another, laden with happiness and tears.” If you have seen the play or movie “Fiddler on the Roof” you are familiar with this song. I recently went to a wedding where they used this song as part of the ceremony. It is a very poignant song that brings reflection to our lives and our children’s lives. The words tell the story of growth, aging, change and separation. Tevye wonders as all parents do:

What words of wisdom can I give them?
How can I help to ease their way?

If only our children would follow our advice and heed the lessons we have tried to teach them. We want to help them to avoid the errors we have made and keep them safe from the pain and disappointments we have faced. We might be able to do this if we could stop time, keep them home with us and never let them grow up, but that is not to be. We know in our hearts that our children, like ourselves, must find their own way and suffer their own mistakes. They must go out and face the world. We must watch as they grow older and hope that we have prepared them to avoid at least some of the many traps we fell into.

The happy part of Tevye’s song is also the sad part. We must watch as they grow from children to adults and separate from us by finding their own lives. All things change and all things stay the same. Our children are a reflection of us and yet they are unique. As time passes, they will become more like us and yet they will also become less like us. Their histories will become their own and their destinies will follow very different paths then those we chose or perhaps hoped they would choose. We know that eventually they will face tears and that is the hardest part for us to accept. Would there was someway to protect them from that, but it is not to be. Life brings both joy and sorrow and we are yoked together with our children in these events. For better or worse, their joys and sufferings will be our joys and sufferings.

What words of wisdom do you want your children to follow? What teachings that you gave them were the most important? What do you most hope they will listen to in the years ahead? What do you wish you could go back and change? Perhaps it is not too late. We can always keep trying to make a difference in the lives of our loved ones. Sometimes we will succeed. You only fail when you quit trying.

The secret to never running out of time!

I ran out of time today. How many times have you run out of time when you were not even running? The clock seems to be relentless. No matter how fast or how slow we run, the clock just keeps going at its steady inexorable pace. It never falters or stumbles. We get sidetracked, delayed, circumvented, lost, confused, ignored, blocked and snowed in but the clock just keeps on ticking. I run out of time several times each day. If only we could turn the clock back when we needed to or slow it down somehow. But the clock is relentless and it holds us to whatever schedule is in our heads. I have to get to school soon and I only have twenty minutes but five things to do first. I have to get to work but I only have 45 minutes and I have to stop for gas. Can I make it? Will I run out of time?

Is there a secret to not running out of time? What if I buy the latest book on time management? Will it help me to find ways to avoid running out of time? Is there anyone who never runs out of time? Am I a hero or fool for trying to beat the clock as much as I do. If I could only get one more task done! Can I do it? Probably not, but I will try anyway. Oops, I just ran out of time, got to go to school now. Can you finish this for me? Can you tell the world how to avoid running out of time? Do you have time to help me? No! You just ran out of time too?

1001 ways to beat time!

Beating time: what does it mean when we say that we are going to beat time? Is beating time like beating a dead horse, like beating notes, or like beating the competition? Can we beat time? Is time the ultimate chess player or poker player? The one gamester in the world who cannot be beaten? Is time the grandmaster of life?

What if I told you about a secret book: “One Thousand and One Ways to Beat Time” that I am writing? Would you want to rush out to buy it? Perhaps you would not need it. You may think you are already beating time when you multi-task. Are you more efficient and attentive when you try to do two or more things at the same time? Do you think people who drive and talk on their cell phones are safer drivers? Are they beating time? How about the drivers that weave in an out of traffic on a busy day; do you think they are beating time? My favorite people are the tailgaters who seem to ignore the fact that there are multiple other drivers in front of me and we are all doing more than the speed limit already.

We can save time by doing things smarter and more efficiently but is that beating time? The clock just keeps on ticking and ticking. What if I took a baseball bat to my clocks and beat the living daylights out of all of them? Would that be beating time or just killing time? Nothing seems to really define this idea of “beating” time. Somehow, time always seems to win. Death is the one inevitability in all of our lives. Rich or poor, genius or idiot, educated or uneducated, holy or unholy, we all have our deaths marked in a ledger someplace and no one has beat time yet.

What does it mean to you to beat time? Do you ever beat time? If so, please send me an email telling me how you do it. I would like to add your idea to my UPCOMING book: “One Thousand and One Ways to Beat Time.” At least then, I would have one idea to add to this book.

Are you racing from one thing to another? Can we beat the clock?

Racing the clock seems to be a common occurrence in our world today. We are all familiar with this phrase. In the movies, the hero or heroine race against time as the bomb ticks down or the villains’ ultimatum gets closer. Often lives are at stake and the race has a critical dimension. Solve the puzzle or the bomb goes off! In the Da Vinci code, the hero and heroine race from one puzzle to another as an assortment of evil characters race after them. The drama comes from the clock ticking down as we race madly from one moment to another.

In our daily lives, we may be racing from one event to another. We feel the same stress and have the same pressures without any real catastrophe awaiting us. We race to work, we race home, we race to school, we race to complete our projects on time, we race to the movies, we race to the game and then we race to get to bed before it is too late, only to get up in the morning to start racing the clock again.

For many of us our lives are one big race. Why do we do this? Why incur the stress and anxiety of racing the clock? Do we really enjoy this kind of race? Have we become habituated to “racing the clock?” Is it so common for us that we don’t know how to live our lives without the pressure or experience of this race? Do we really enjoy these races? Do these races provide vicarious excitement for an otherwise dull or boring life? Are we forever doomed to be racing the clock? Heaven forbid! Heaven forbid!

There must be a way out of these rat races. What do you think it is? How can you get out of your races? Can you pick and choose the races you enter? Which ones cost you stress and give you no payback? Which ones are fun and are worth the run? Who makes the choice whether you run or not? Think about it today and look at the races you entered against the clock. Which ones are really worth the running? Who won you or the clock?

Have you ever thought about useful a Calendar can be?

Calendars are one of the most interesting ways that we mark time. Calendars can tell us the past, the present and the future. I keep three calendars in our house besides those on my desktop computers. There is something about a physical calendar with its pictures and permanence that computer programs seem to lack. Granted, there are many virtues to Outlook and other software calendar programs. However, I still like to put my post-it notes on one calendar, mark my bills on another calendar and on the third calendar, I mark the time and type of exercise that I have done each day. At the end of the month, I sum my bills and my exercise time and put them in an Excel spreadsheet. I use these various tools as a way of tracking and keeping on track with the most important things in my life.

My calendar with post-it notes is almost a duplicate of my desktop calendar but I still like to look at this calendar each day. With the post it notes, it is very easy to simply take an appointment with me or move it to another day. My “post it notes” calendar helps me keep track of what I want to do now and in the future. I put appointments, planned trips, ideas for things to do and future vacations on this calendar. Thus, while two calendars track things I have done, my third calendar tracks things I will do. Each year, I love to go out and buy interesting calendars. I usually buy three or sometimes four calendars as I like turning them each month and seeing the new pictures or sometimes the information that is on calendars. This year I have a Lonely Planets travel calendar, a fantasy calendar by Luis Royo and a calendar with pictures of butterflies. The Lonely Planet calendar has over 200 pictures of different places and countries and provides a way to dream about new places to visit and see.

My calendars are a very active part of my life and I don’t mind spending thirty or forty dollars on them each year. I can also deduct some of them as a business expense. Calendars can be depressing if all they do is mark the passing of time. Calendars can be very helpful when we are counting the days to the beginning of a new event or something we are eagerly looking forward to. Do you have a calendar? How do you use your calendars? Do they help you to manage your life, look forward to exciting times or simply mark the passing of days?

Do you want to learn how to have more time than you ever thought possible?

Do you want to become a “Time Millionaire?” A Time Millionaire has learned how to wisely invest time and get more back than most of us would believe possible. Investing time is a lot like investing money. You cannot make money if you do not invest money. You may make a salary each week, but no one ever became a millionaire on just a salary. If you want to make a great deal of money, you must invest money and of course, that means taking a risk. A good business person is willing to take “prudent” risks. The same applies to getting more time in your life. You must invest time to make time. The time that you get each day is your “salaried” time. You will never become a “Time Millionaire” on just your weekly “salary” of time. You must invest time to make millions in time and that means taking a risk. The risk is that your time investment might not work out and you will not receive the extra time you hope to have earned.

Have you ever noticed that successful people seem to be able to accomplish so much? They seem to have more time than the rest of us. Their secret is that they have learned the ins and outs of “time investing.” Most of the rest of us just hoard our time. Hoarding time is like putting your money under the bed. It will not do you any good there. You must spend time to make more time. What you spend your time on is the key. It is the principle that applies to what you spend your money on. If you spend your money on buying frivolous things, you will not make money. If you spend your time on frivolous pursuits, you will not make more time. How can time multiply? The same way that money multiplies. Other people will lend, give or sell you their time and the multiplier effect works the same way with time that it does with money.

Smart business people invest with other people’s money. Smart time managers invest with other people’s time. Following are three keys to wise time investment. The first key is to learn how to ask other people for help. A smart time manager know when to aks others for help. A second key is to learn how to network and create more leverage from those you know and also those you don’t know. This key helps you build a larger network of people who may be smart investments. A third key is to generously give time to other people. This time will come back to you many times over when these same people will someday be happy to provide you with their time or help you later on.

Watching TV each week is not investing time. Helping a friend, going back to school, working on a part-time business, writing a book, learning to play an instrument are all good investments of time. When you invest time in worthwhile goals and in worthwhile people you will soon find your time multiplying. You will begin to accomplish more and more by spending less and less time. You will soon find you are becoming rich with time. You are on your way to becoming a “Time Millionaire.” You will someday have more time and accomplish more than you ever dreamed was possible.

How much of your time is spent frivolously each week? How much time are you spending watching TV or watching sports? How much time are you spending on good investments? How could you increase the amount of time you invest each week?

How to live the life you want to live?

Today is the first day of the rest of your life. How many times have you seen or heard this little phrase? It would almost be trite if it were not so powerful a thought. Did you get up this morning and think: “The rest of my life starts now” or “Today is a new beginning” or “I can start all over and lead a new life.” I would bet you got up, took a shower, got dressed, made a coffee and went out the door, praying for the roads to be good and that there is little traffic. You also made a note to try to get up a little earlier tomorrow. You have been making these notes for twenty years but seldom do they work, so you are now rushing to get to work on time. Thoughts of a new beginning or a new day are far far away. And so, a new day began for you, but NOT a new set of opportunities.

The opportunities are only there for the people that can take the time to seize them. We are often too busy rushing to even see the opportunities for a new life and a new start that surrounds us. We continue to live today exactly as we did yesterday and we wonder “when, oh when, will things chance?” Well, think about it, as someone once said the definition of craziness is “keep doing the same things and expect different results.”

When will you seize the opportunity to change your life, to see things differently, to begin a new day with new commitments, to improve your life and to begin the life you dream of living? If you keep doing the same things you did yesterday and the day before, nothing will change for you. Do you want to live a better live? Do you want to improve your life?

Then right now make a list of things that you would like to see different in your life. Do you want to travel more? Do you want to make more money? Do you want to have more love and romance in your life? Now from your list, prioritize the things that are most important to you. Take one thing today and make today the day that you start working towards that goal. Each week start working on one goal or one priority. Before you know it, you will be living the life that you want to live and not the one you HAVE to live.

How much time do you spend thinking about Sex?

Horny Time – Do you find it difficult to talk about sex? Most Americans seem to have a fixation with sex but a very difficult time to talk openly about it. According to Dr. Louann Brizendine, author of "The Female Brain," men think about sex every 52 seconds, while women tend to think about it just once a day. Apparently, men are thinking about sex a great deal more than women. I believe this "finding" reflects a stereotype about men and women in a traditional orientation to sex. In our world today, symbols and elements of sex are ubiquitous. We are bombarded with an average of 1500 advertisements a day and many of these rely on the old adage “sex sells.” Both men and women are getting “sexier” regardless of how often each supposedly thinks about it.

Recent studies show that the older men get, the “softer” they get. Forty four percent of American men over sixty report having a problem with getting an erection. Men might be thinking about sex but a great deal but with many it does not go much further than that. Why spend so much time thinking about something, when we can’t do anything about it? Of course, with the right drugs, we can all become overnight sex studs.

On one level, we treat sex as a normal part of everyday life, but at a deeper level, we are still like little kids for whom sex is naughty and evil. We never quite get over those childhood messages about sex being bad. As adults, we think about sex, dream about sex and fantasize about sex. We watch movies where everyone has marathon sex bouts in which they go at it all night long and start over again in the morning. When most of us measure our reality against such fantasies, reality comes up short. Thus, we prefer not to talk about reality. We ignore it or pretend we don’t have a problem but the problem does not go away. Our sex lives seldom measure up to the Hollywood standard.

Problems that are not dealt with sometimes get better, but more often they get worse.
How much time do you spend talking about sex openly and candidly with your significant other? Can you talk about what you like and what you don’t like? What turns you on and what turns you off? Do you put time away each week or every so often to talk about sex? How would you rate your sex life? What would it take to improve it?

Can you tame the beast of time?

“Taming Time” would be an interesting title for a book. I typed this phase “Taming Time” in on the Amazon Book site and came up with 417 hits. A quick look down the results showed numerous books with this title. Most of them seemed to focus on time management or tips to “tame” time. The metaphor or allusion to time seems to indicate that it is a wild beast that needs to be tamed. However, have you ever tried to tame a wild beast? Would you trust a so called tamed lion or tiger around your children? Can we really time a wild beast?

If time is a wild beast, are we perhaps kidding ourselves by thinking that “201 tips” on time will tame this beast? What if time were not tamable? What if we just had to live with this beast? Perhaps there is a better opportunity for an original book on time titled: “Living with the Beast of Time.” Well, how do we go about living with a wild beast? I suppose you must have plenty of patience, courage and awareness towards the beast. You might always have to be on guard for some moment when the beast reverts to its natural state. You could never fully trust that the beast might not someday become wild and violent.

If you are living with a wild creature, you have to respect it. A lack of respect could really get you in trouble with a lion or tiger. I think the same is true for time. Do you respect time? How do you treat the time in your life? Do you see it as a wild or domesticated creature? Do you think you can tame it?

How well do you balance your priorities? Do you never have time?

Time and priorities seem to go hand in hand. Some say that time is all about setting priorities. I often think that when someone says “I don’t have the time”, a more honest reply would be: “It’s not that important to me or not as important as the other things going on in my life right now.” In some time management courses, they teach you to understand the distinction between important and urgent. Some things are both important and urgent and thus you should attend to them right away, others are urgent but not important. The phone ringing tends to define a sense of urgency as it screams to be attended to. We rush to pick it up, only to find a telemarketer on the other end. Other things are important, but do not need to be done right away, thus we put them off and sometimes never seem to get the truly important things done in our lives. We may reflect on these failures when it is too late, as in telling someone we really love them, after they are dead. However, we are too busy with the urgent to spend time on the important.

The no-brainers are the unimportant and un-urgent. Yet, how many of us occupy our time with these true time wasters: the daily news, the TV set, gossip or trivia about sports or movie stars or what so and so wore to the wedding. Studies show the average person watches 3-6 hours of TV a day. Can you think of anything on TV that falls into the urgent or important categories? Yet, how often do you say “I have no time?” What if you answered: “I am sorry, I don’t have the time, I have to watch 6 hours of TV tonight before going to bed?” What would you think if someone said that too you? It might be refreshing if people were more honest.

What method do you use to set priorities in your life? Do you think you have your priorities well balanced? If not, what could you do to better balance your priorities? How much time do you spend on the unimportant and un-urgent each week? How much time to you spend on the truly important? How much time do you spend dealing with the simply urgent? Are you always fighting fires and never getting the important tasks done? Dr. W.E. Deming used to say, “Putting out the fires, does not improve the hotel.”

TGIF? Or Are you sad its Frrday?

Friday, Friday, too much too say about this day! Black Friday, Freaky Friday, Good Friday; Casual Friday, Unlucky Friday, TGIF! Can you believe a chain of restaurants, a god and more songs than I could list named after this day? Friday, is derived from the Anglo-Saxon form of Frigga, the Germanic goddess of beauty. Frigga was the goddess of love, marriage, and destiny. She was the wife of the powerful Norse god Odin, The All-Father.

If there were a magic day, it would be Friday. You know the reason why too, don’t you? The last day of the week, payday, the day that three day weekends begin on and a holy day as well. The Easybeats sing: “Monday, I’ve got Friday on my mind.” We can all identify with that song, since many of us start thinking about Friday as soon as we are headed to work on Monday. Even those of us who love our work, often look forward to this last day in the week, the day before our weekend break begins and frequently the day we begin it on early. In Japan, Friday is Kin-Youbi: "Gold Day" or "money day", and in many Asian cultures, paydays are on Friday (Wikipedia). Friday for others has often been associated with the dreaded pink slips. Instead of getting paid, you receive your layoff notice. Love it, hate it, dread it, fear it, but you cannot ignore Friday.

What do Fridays mean to you? Have Fridays more often been good to you or bad? Do you anxiously wait for each Friday or do you take your days one at a time? What do you like most about Fridays? What if we had a four day week and skipped Fridays? How would you feel about that? Would you miss your Fridays?

Is today your day of Glory?

Glory time! Halleluiah! Are you waiting for glory time? “It will be a glorious day in heaven that awaits all repentant sinners. However, the fires in hell will burn brighter as they consume the bones and blood of those who fail to repent. Today is Glory Day. Lift up thine eyes to heaven so that you may see what awaits you. The downcast will be lifted up and the exalted will be cast down.” Or so it has been said!

Well, perhaps I exaggerate some, but what could be a more glorious time for some then the day they rise up to get their just rewards? More immediate but more mundane times of glory may await those of us who prefer to tarry on this earth. Many of us yearn for a day of glory; to rise on the pedestal and be recognized for a “once in a lifetime” achievement. - To have a crowd of friends and admirers all standing there to cheer at our success - We have the Oscars, the Emmys, the Grammys, the Bowl Games, the Super Bowl, the World Series, American Idol and a zillion playoffs, but most of us will never attend one of these, much less play in one or win one.

For most ordinary people, our glory time will be winning a local soccer tournament, or taking first place in our third-grade spelling bee. A good friend of mine recently received notice that he was going to be inducted into an academic Hall of Fame. I once took second place in a father-daughter canoe race. I still keep the trophy. It is the only trophy I have ever received. The irony is that regardless of how small these accomplishments may seem to others, we will never forget the moment or the time of our glory. For the rest of our lives, we will remember our moment of glory. There may be other glory times or more significant times, but glory times are like precious moments of happiness, they come and go all too fast for our liking. That is their nature; can you imagine spending days and weeks in glory time? When was your last glory time? What do you remember about it? Why was it important to you then and now?

Does each new day begin for you with hope and promise?

Daytime! You wake up in the morning and the first thing you think is “It’s daytime, I have a lot of things I want to do today.” Or perhaps you think “Another day, I wish I did not have to go to work.” For some of us, daytime is exciting and energizing. For others, we just want to turn the alarm off and go back to sleep. I prefer to think that daytime marks the start of a new day with new challenges and opportunities. It is a chance to realize my hopes and dreams. I know that for some, daytime brings fears and maybe even more pain and dread. It may be the continuation of a bad dream that they do not know how to get out of or a bad story that started the day before and does not seem to end.

Perhaps our difference in perspective lies in the element of Hope. Hope is a gift that “gives vision to the mind, strength to the will, courage to the heart, and endurance to the body.” (My Daily Bread, by Anthony J. Paone, 1954, Confraternity of the Holy Blood) With hope, we can look forward to the possibility that we can change, our lives can change, others can change and the world can change. Hope is the belief that things can be better today than they were yesterday. It is the belief that we can make a difference in the world. Hope means that I can change my dreams into reality. It is never too late to start to hope. Hope will carry you through the times when life seems hopeless.

What does daytime mean to you? What role does hope play in your daily life? When you wake up in the morning, how do you feel about starting a new day? Is it exciting and energizing or fearful and painful? Do you believe that you can and will make a difference today? What would it take to put you into the category of people who greet each day with excitement and enthusiasm? Are you happy to continue with your present outlook on life or do you want to get more out of life? How can you start? Where can you look? Who could help you in your journey? How can you find more hope in your life? What or whom could help you to renew the hope that you may have lost?

Do you have time for poetry in your life? Do you ever write?

There is no shortage of time poetry or poetry about time. The website http://www.poemhunter.com/poems/time/ has many excellent poems on time. You could spend hours reading the wonderful poems about time and its effects on people’s lives. I recently borrowed some ideas from this poetry and wrote Karen a poem on time for her while she was in Phoenix visiting our daughter. She told me when she returned that it was the first time that anyone had ever written her a poem. I thought that was sad since we have been married now for over 20 years and neither I nor anyone else had ever written her a poem. I think everyone should have a poem written for them at least once in their lives and the subject of time is a good place to start.

If you peruse some of the poetry at this website, you will find some excellent ones but some that are just okay. I think it is like that with anything. We have good stuff and we have average stuff and some bad stuff. However, we let the outstanding scare us from attempting because we say “Oh, I could never write that well.” Well, you might be able to or you might not but it really does not matter. Not everyone will be a Tiger Woods or a Michael Jordan, but that should not deter anyone from playing golf or basketball; likewise with writing poetry or a book or doing anything else. There is always room in this world for more creativity, for more poetry, for more stories.

If you don’t start now, then when will you start? Write your loved one a poem today, just for them. Write it about time or about anything else that is special for you. Give it to them and see what they think. You don’t have to be a great poet, but who knows, maybe you are.

To Labor or Not to Labor? What is the meaning of Labor Day?

September is the ninth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar and one of four Gregorian months with 30 days. September is my favorite month of the year. For me, September is the beginning of fall. Autumn is well underway by the beginning of September and by the middle of September the leaves will soon start changing. Technically fall does not begin until September 21st, but we all know that the real end of summer is on Labor Day.

In many parts of the world, summer ends when students head back to school (They are already back in Wisconsin and in Minnesota will head back tomorrow). The fall weather and temperatures are perfect (for me anyway) and I love the changing colors of the landscapes. I love the cool crisp air and the beauty of the trees, shrubs and falling leaves. I love the many fall flowers and the bright red Sumac bushes. The flowers and red bushes are soon complimented by the Oaks, Maples and Popular trees which will contribute bright yellows, oranges and reds to the panoply of colors. The leaves have an almost ethereal quality as they float to the ground and cover it in a rich collage of hues and tones. However, when the leaves start gently falling, the end of fall comes too soon for me.

I should mention that I was born in September and of course my birthday will bring some treats. However, I would still love the fall with or without my birthday. Many people do not feel the same why that I do about the fall, particularly in Minnesota. Karen does not enjoy September nearly as much as I do. She did not like getting up this morning when it was 47 degrees and she regrets the acorns that are already starting to scatter on the ground. She says she can only think that when fall comes, winter will soon be here.

In some parts of the world, fall lasts somewhat longer than in Wisconsin. Weather-wise, we have a two month fall that covers September and October. Never mind that the calendar says fall ends on December 20, it really ends right after Halloween. By then the colors are over and most of the leaves need to be raked up. Not to mention, we generally have snow long before the “end” of fall. Well, in four weeks, we will be headed to Arizona so I will miss the winter but hopefully catch most of the fall up here.

What is your favorite month of the year? Why? What is your favorite season of the year? Do you enjoy each season or do you have a special season you look forward to?

How much do you value your "free" time?

What is free time? Students, people on seminars, people at retreats and people on tours are often told that they will have such and such time as free time. We assume this means we can do anything we want with our time. However, even if we could really do anything we wanted to with this time (highly unlikely), would the time really be free? Did you not pay for the tour or conference in the first place? If so, then you paid for the “free” time that you are getting. Time always costs us something.

Generally, we are overjoyed at getting free time, since if we put the cost aside, we are more grateful for the chance to spend it the way we want to. Time that is under our control is often more valuable to us than money that is under our control. In an ideal world, both would be under our control but in real life we are constantly juggling time and money. Neither of which are free or totally under our control.

Getting free time is no more likely than getting free money. It is funny that we seldom expect to get free money, but we take for granted the idea of free time. This just shows how little we value time until we really need it or until it is in short supply. What if you were told: “now you are going to have some very expensive time to do what you want to do today? It is not free but it is very precious.” Would this change what you would do with your time? Would it change how you felt about the use of this time? So what are you going to do with your free time today? How often do you get any free time? How much would “more’ free time be worth to you? Would you buy some if it were for sale?

Do you know how to relax? What we can learn from the Hobbits.

Sleepy Time tea is a commercial tea made by Celestial Seasonings. Celestial Seasonings calls this tea “Sleepy Time” because it is mostly comprised of chamomile. Chamomile is an herb that has natural properties which promote restfulness and drowsiness. It is an aromatic tea with a pleasant fruity flavor that goes great with honey. When I drink this tea, I think of the Hobbits from Tolkien’s famous stories. The Hobbits were very peaceful people who lived in the Shire and were just happy to stay home and smoke their pipes and drink their tea. Well, on a cold winter’s night in Minnesota when the temperature is 15 degrees BELOW zero; that is a wonderful thing to do. Kick back in a big old recliner in front of a roaring fire with a good book and a nice cup of Sleepy Time tea.

Can you think of a better way to spend a winters evening or even a summers evening for that matter? Just sitting in a big recliner chair, reading a good book and drinking a wonderfully soothing cup of tea! No place to go, no goals to complete, no project deadlines to meet, no team meetings to get to! Just let the wonderful herb work its magic and before you know it, you are off to a nice warm bed and a very deep and relaxing sleep.

This is not a commercial for tea, but for a way of life that all too many of us forego for the stress and rush that we call the modern world. We dream of a retirement that might look like the way the Hobbits live every day. However, as soon as we are retired, we fill our days up again with volunteer activities, clubs, and other stress producing tasks. How many people do you know who are retired and say “I’m busier now than when I was working?” We don’t know how to be a Hobbit and most of us will die before we learn. If you are retired, you should have a least a few Hobbit days in your schedule. If you are not retired, you probably need these days even more. Try building some Hobbit days into your calendar.

Can you just see back and relax? Buy a cup of chamomile tea and see if this helps you. Chamomile tea is natures answer to the frenetic producing caffeinated drinks that are dominating the market today. Would you rather be a Hobbit or a caffeine addict?