With Time

As I’ve gotten older, the veneer of youth fading, I’ve realized just how important it is to be thankful, to take moments, bask in joy, fully experiencing what is in front of me, and realizing the utter fragility of life. Capturing an experience, realizing how quickly things become fleeting, holding just a second, saying thank you for the reality that is presented, not only for myself but for those who are no longer here. I dwell on just how much of a gift this life is, how special it is to be alive. To be present of mind, having the ability to slow down, take stock, and proceed with intention. I have always believed that to be human is to possess one of the greatest gifts ever to be bestowed upon a creature, the gift of existence, and thus, the ability to comprehend one’s place in this world.

I think it’s easy to forget this, it’s easy to forget that we are here, we’re alive, with choices, with thought, and with the ability to live it in a meaningful way. I am often stuck with these epiphanies in random moments, seconds in time where I’m suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that my life is full, defined with countless moments of time, through years of living; I understand in these seconds that I have everything I need, that I am happy to simply be there, to feel the wind, to see the colors, hear the birds, I am calm; allowing the reality of life to wash over me. I need nothing more than to be thankful.

There is something special about taking comfort in one’s own existence. Something powerful in realizing that what you have is enough. And something extraordinary about wanting nothing more than to observe the world in its most natural state. But I’ve found that this intentionality needs to be deliberate; we must be conscious about it and open to receiving it. It’s easy to live a life, numb to one’s own existence, to blur it with distractions, substance, or otherwise.

It’s difficult to take seconds to sit with oneself, to be present in the silence. However, this is where we begin to understand the symphony in of life, always playing, asking us to join, to listen, to be there, to hear it. Like the sound of a watch, ticking away, be it observed or not, it’s constantly moving forward, its sound obscured by the chaos of life, but when it’s observed, when it’s heard, when it’s focused upon, the seconds become moments of eternity, linking our existence with the threads of human experience, sown together through eons. To me, that is special. The observance of time, the passage of it, and our place within it, is a beauty unlike any other, a subtle reminder of our place in this world, the significance of the gift we’ve been given, and the importance of taking a second to listen, observe, and just be.