Enough is enough, it's time to take back my life, my mission, my goals. It's time to undue the clutter that has accumulated in my basement and in the back seat of my car. Time to clean out the lint trap in the furnace and breath fresher air. Yes, it is time.
If you have read Deepak Chopra you will know that when you're talking Quantum Physics, time does not exist. If you don't believe this try staring down your clock with the second hand for about a minute. Then turn away for a few seconds and look back at it. For a brief moment that second hand will stand still, and you will be living in that fiction in the space between moments where everything in life is happening. That space we all forget about or never even knew existed. That time and space in our life that has been gobbled up by PacMan, Dilbert, Wal-Mart and gasoline.
The great irony of life is that though in metaphysical theory time does not exist, in life on earth, time is our most precious asset. Time spent at dinner with my kids attempting to explain the idea of financial education, inflation, and the benefits of saving for a condo they can live in when they go away to college is precious, fleeting, and unbelievably pure. Like a golden nugget in the sand that washes up on the shore at your feet and greets you like an old friend. And the time spent writing about it is even more divine. The trick is in finding it, putting it in your pocket and holding it carefully until you can store it away and build your wealth.
Attention to this small and enormous detail in life is essential to your survival as a human being. Living at attention cultivates the intention you need to prevent the thief from coming through your back door at night and steeling your existence, one precious minute at a time. Leaving the door open to let the fresh cool summer night air in is important, but forgetting to lock that door at night while you're sleeping is disastrous. All of your valuable assets, including your time will evaporate in the dry night air. Stars will shine a little brighter as a result, but they will be borrowing from the future, just as you do when you waste your time. Just as you do when you let your attention slip and your intention fade away into the night one evening at a time until suddenly you realize that you have no time left to give. Morning has arrived...
You can pretend to care, but you can't pretend to be there. To smell the scent of the freshly cut grass. To hear the sounds of cars rushing by on the highway 3 miles away. To hear, I mean really hear, the water as it trickles into the bathroom sink off your love's sweet and succulent lips in her preparation for another good night's rest with that back door shut tight. You can't pretend to hear your children dancing in their dreams as they describe to you their thoughts about what a dollar means to them and about how funny Ace Ventura, Pet Detective really is. You can't pretend to listen. Your children and the people who are talking to you will know. They will sense your distraction and turn away from you like a sunflower at dusk.
How often have you heard yourself say, "When I have the time, I'll..." How many more times do you need to hear yourself say it again before you can hear what is garbling out of your mouth? A failed attempt to take back your life and manage this precious gold. How many more times will you miss dinner, a baseball game, a piano recital, a spoonful of laughter at the dinner table? A taste of heaven at the side of the bed, singing sweet hymns and basking in the shadows of your creation.
No one ever promised there would be no sacrifices. In fact, sacrifice is religion. A religion of the discipline it takes to honor this truth. Gandhi said we must become "the change we want to see in the world." I have often looked at this quote with irritability because it sounds so corny when I'm not listening. Tonight I'm listening so closely that I can hear the universe calling my name. Asking me to step up and take on the responsibility of the change I want to see in the world.
To some extent, I've done that. I'm a living example of what it means to be fit, healthy, and strong, built with plenty of muscle and plenty of vitality and an undying eagerness to share it with the world and inspire you to build the same. Yet, suddenly I've been called to do more, because now I'm listening...
Suddenly my guides speak into my ears and I can hear them as if they were singing at the pulpit. They are calling me to "be the change I want to see in the world." And that change is the challenge I see presented over and over again for not only myself, but for all of you who have come to do your work with me. The great challenge of life that forces us to wrestle with that irony I mentioned earlier. That force that puts us on the mat against an opponent that we would have never considered being strong enough to face and now we are. That opponent who will only be defeated when we can wrestle him to the mat and ask him carefully how and what we each need to do to find the life balance we need to pin him to the ground and rise up in victory. A victory that will grant us the freedom to claim everything that is ours. Everything that belongs to us, especially our time and the balance that comes with this mastery, so that we can accomplish everything we need to to fill our own life's unique mission. We all have our own mission to fulfill and until tonight, mine was not yet completely clear.
Stay tuned for big changes that will be important for all of us in considering what we need to do to perform the work at hand, and at the same time, reclaim the work we almost left behind...