Yesterday I heard a story and I feel it is beginning to change my life. I knew it the moment I heard it – although I didn’t really know what was happening to me yet.
While walking, I listened to a book that lasted about 6.5 hours. However, it was one story that caught my attention. It was a magical story about time.
The book was almost finished. I was walking over the viaduct late in the evening. The city was deserted at this hour. It was like a fine snow falling, but it was neither snow nor rain. Like tiny white balls falling slowly from the sky.
The story I am talking about – concerned a fairy-tale village in the high Himalayas. Little children were given small hourglasses there – with fine sand. It was a symbol of the life that lies ahead. It was then explained to them that the sand that spills over is priceless. Every tiny grain that passes through the narrow neck of the hourglass is important. And it’s been like that since their birth.
The sand that has already flown over – is the time that has passed us. The one above is the time we have left. It’s important to spend it well.
This look at time made me feel completely different than before.
We all know that our lives are limited. We are aware of that. This does not mean, however, that we must somehow frantically do something now, run, rescue. And maybe create things that will remain after us. No – on the contrary. However, you should be able to stop often and look at yourself. To what you do. Is this what you should be doing right now? Be able to correct the course of life in time, if necessary. Be able to enjoy life.
This fairy-tale people from the book – lived very serenely. They respected nature. They did not strive for meaning or possession. They understood the value of a good and simple life.
If we knew how many of these tiny grains we still have left in the hourglass of time – we would probably behave completely differently than we do now. Maybe it’s good that we don’t know that.
It’s something completely different – than looking at a clock that counts down the day all over again. It’s different than looking at a calendar that counts down the year all over again. We created a clock and a calendar to better manage time. That’s all. However, the time of our lives is much more like this ancient sand hourglass.
How often we all and without exception – mindlessly waste not only seconds, but also whole hours – and even days, weeks, months, … years.
…
Small snowflakes fluttering in the darkness – illuminated by lanterns, on the viaduct in Siemianowice Śląskie – spilled somewhere from the sky to the ground.
I walked slowly past the old mining fountain – in the park…
This evening, at the end of winter 2023 – I feel that something is changing in me again…
I don’t think there is too much or too little time.
I don’t know if I want to live forever – but I do know that I want to live well.
And the book was: https://lnkd.in/dfTPBJgU