How you ever noticed how you track time?
My guess? You look at your day in a 24 hour segment and plan out your minutes and hours into days.
What if … go with me here … what if you looked at it in moments?
Would it change how you show up?
I use a daytimer, both an electronic and hold in my hand daytimer.
Call me old fashioned but I still like to put the pen, pencil, and different coloured highlighters or gel pens in my hand, and write my commitments in my daytimer.
I write down both my dreams and my goals and love the visual it gives me and the feel that turning the pages gives me.
There is something that gives me the clarity of what I want to accomplish in the weeks and months that helps me feel like I am living out my purpose and making it intentional.
If you enjoy this practice as much as I do, no worries, I am not going to tell you not to write things down and schedule them in a way that helps you feel that confidence of a well filled in calendar.
But, what if …
What if you looked at your time more in moments, just as much as you do in minutes?
What if you noticed what I call the “Godstops”?
Godstops are when you savour the moments. Take the time to pause, be aware of the miracle, and remember.
The moments in time when you look at someone or something happening and you think, “I need to keep this memory in my head and remember it”.
The feel of a grandchild’s hand in yours as you walk.
The smile of a loved one from across the room.
A “crying”, no noise laugh with a good friend.
I feel this when I sit on my back porch and watch the birds.
I felt it dipping in the clear waters of Lake Ontario last week.
I felt it watching the sun set on the ocean during a catamaran cruise in the Caribbean.
I feel it when my husband lights up every time he sees me walking towards him.
I felt it getting my score I was setting my eyes on playing disc golf.
I feel it when all the kids are around our dinner table.
I felt it when I booked the tickets to take my husband to Come From Away on Broadway for his birthday … and I am sure I will feel it when we are there.
And I feel it when I see our grandkids just sitting and talking to their Poppa.
What are your moments?
Where you become aware to stop, take it in, and remember?
What if you were to schedule those moments?
Would it change how you plan your time?
Would it change how you use your day timer?
I have had a lot of those moments in the past few years, and honestly, it is changing how I colour code my specially ordered daytimer.
Too bad that it is “as we age” that we become more aware, and sometimes I wish I noticed more many years ago.
I am more aware now, that it isn’t so much the minutes, as it is the moments.
I am sure becoming a grandparent brought some of the urgency, and losing my Dad to Alzheimer’s brought some of the awareness of treasured moments and how much I want to lean in to them.
What moments do you want to put into your calendar?
What moments do you want to pause for, notice, and then lean in?
It’s not just the minutes, it’s the moments.