All we have to decide is what to do with the time given to us…
Occasionally, I go through old notebooks and journals. I keep most of them because I write all my business ideas down, I process emotions, I have incoherent ramblings in the middle of the night I feel the need to get out, and who knows what else. Writing for me has always been a way to create, process, release, and gain clarity. Sometimes I write when I cannot speak. Sometimes I write because I think saying the words or memories out loud might break me. Sometimes I write to share love and joy and passion and creativity. Whatever it is for, writing is for me.
Today, I was packing things to move and decided to crack an old notebook used for work genius (most of these ideas remain just that… ideas.). In this notebook, I had written on the page - “All we have to decide is what to do with the time given to us.” It was the only thing on the page. Just those words. I looked up the quote and it came from Lord of the rings in a conversation between Frodo and Gandalf. I haven’t seen the movie, so I must have heard it on a podcast or at an event with other public speakers. However I heard it, I chose to write it down and I am thankful for the reminder of those words today.
I am going to break down the power in that statement. Every single moment in time, we must decide what to do with it. Our time is ours and ours alone. Time is relative to the person it belongs to and we don’t know how much of it we have. Since our mind, body, spirit, and time are ours there is an innate power we possess.
CHOICE
Sure - things happen that we aren’t in control of, but how we choose to respond, hold onto, or react to things is our responsibility. It is within our power to choose to heal, forgive, change, and act. It is within our power to accept that we have outgrown the space we occupy and that we want more.
I have always been a big believer in choice. Maybe it came from experiencing trauma/abuse at an early age. Maybe it came from resilience encoded in my DNA. Whatever the reason for my understanding of the power in choice, I know that it is true. I know that I am capable of amazing things if I choose to allow myself to go there. So are you.
If you did a personal audit of your time, what are you choosing to do with it? Do you feel like you are driving your life, or is your life driving you right now? Are you in a constant state of reaction that needs a pause and a reclamation of personal power?
Until next time, write it out!