I’d like to take this opportunity to discuss time. What is time? Is it a compendium of years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds? We look at the clock and see that we “lost track of time.” “Time flies when your having fun.” Why is that? It seems like last year went by really quick. Why? When you’re really sick, time seems to drag on and on. You sit in the hospital bed with a thermometer in your mouth thinking it most have been two minutes by now. Finally after what seems like hours the nurse comes and takes it out of your mouth. As you sit in the MRI and listen to the “clank, clank, clank. Bonk, bonk, bonk, bonk, bonk,” over and over again you would swear you’ve been in there for the whole day.
The reason time seems to slow and speed up is because time is relative. Much like the speed of light, time is not a fixed entity as we make it out to be. As Einstein said "The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." Calendars and clocks were conceptualized by man therefore they have no bearing on what you perceive in the natural world unless you let them. This means that if you choose to, you can live a lifetime in just a fraction of a second. Everything that you experience, you experience in the present. You can’t change events that have already happened. You can’t know for sure what is going to happen in the future. All you can do is guess.
Okay. Where am I going with this? For me to understand how to live in the present and experience every moment of my life, I had to first understand what I have just explained. How can one possibly be happy when they know they have to get a chemotherapy treatment tomorrow? How can one live happily after their doctors have revealed to them that their death is short to come? The answer is: they can’t. Living with that kind of malicious shadow overhead can only lead to anger and depression.
There is a saying by the transcendentalist Ralph Emerson "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift - that's why they call it the present." Turn your focus away from what has already happened and what you fear in the future. The key to true happiness lies in the moment. Take a walk, or a crutch, or a wheelchair ride out to the park. Go for a boat ride. Look around. See the beauty of life sprouting from the blossoms of an apricot tree. Watch the sun reflect of the snow as the sun rises. Feel the wind on your face or the spray of the ocean. Smell the sweet aroma of a rose. Hug someone you love. Life is just a series of moments. You can choose to live those moments in your mind dwelling on the future or the past, or you can live them and feel the rapture that is life.
I'm going to read this post every day.
ReplyDeleteHi Max, Your grandmother Betty, tap dances with my step mom, Louise, in CA. I am a therapist in Seattle and through Louise have followed your story from a distance. I know several people battling cancer, in and out of Children's hospital, adult hospitals, etc. But more importantly, I see people every day battling LIFE; they're depressed, fighting with kids, not talking to spouses, angry and unhappy. With your permission, I would like to save your posting on Happiness and hand it out to everyone who walks through my door. Because you are right - it is a state (Life and Happiness), having nothing to do with time. It is a state of being that ends up defining how one spends time, but isn't waiting for time to deliver anything more than is already here for us to immerse ourselves in. What a beautiful journal entry this is and I would be honored to use it to inspire others to live in that state no matter how old or young, no matter what time of day, no matter how much "time" they have spent or still "want for". When we understand that we already have all the time there is in the world, I believe we experience heaven, wherever we are. Thank you, Max. God is blessing you as you are blessing life.
ReplyDeleteTerri McLennan (Tmctalk@comcast.net)
You are very brave and wise young man. You are and will continue to be a blessing and an inspiration to others. God Bless you Max. It is an honor and an eye opening journey to read what you write. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you for writing this beautiful blog. You are a rare treasure. I love you.
ReplyDeleteI am living, feeling, loving positive thoughts of/for you right NOW...
ReplyDeleteHi Max, I'm a friend of Susan Renaud. She helped my dad after his stroke in Austin, TX. This blog is well written but more importantly, well perceived, understood & applied by yourself in your life. I've been practicing Transcendental Meditation for 41 years & I still haven't found that elusive "now" outside of the meditative state. It's a hard horse to wrangle. But there's nothing more satisfying than to "BE HERE NOW". Keep your focus on your focus, my dear. You're EXACTLY on track.
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