Doing Life

It's already January 11th. How did that happen? Well, it's only eleven days since the turn of the calendar year, but I know December 31st will come around and it will feel this quick.

When I was younger, days lasted longer, weeks lasted longer, and new years were extremely infrequent events. When I was in elementary school I remember feeling that my seven hour school day was interminable! Summers went by too fast, as did Christmas and Easter breaks. The good stuff went by really fast, the trying went by slowly.

If rapidity is the measure of "good stuff," then my life is filled with only good stuff now, because it all goes fast. I'd like it to slow down a bit, but I don't know how to do that. Even days that I do nothing but sit and relax (I call them slug days) go by with lightening fast speed.

One of the other difficult things about aging, besides the rapid passage of time, is the diminishing amount of energy I have. Today is a case in point. I would like to go home and spend several (2 - 3) hours in my studio painting. I'm not sure my energy will last that long.

It is now 4:15 p.m., I have been up since 6:20 a.m., I went to the doctor for a regular check-up, I went to the Buddhist center I attend and fulfilled some of my treasurer duties, I went to the bank and made a Buddhist deposit, I went to an art store and purchased odorless turpentine, I went to work and worked on a complex document, and I will be stopping at the bank on my way home to make a household deposit. When I get home I will do a few chores and get into comfortable clothes and that's usually when I cave in and decide I can't push anymore today.

There's no such thing as time (they say), there is only now. My now seems to be flying by as quickly as my previous now did. So I'm just doing life. Doing what I need to do in life, and realizing every now and then that the "doing" that I do is all good stuff. Whether I get to work in my studio tonight or not I've had a good day; and I wrote a blog too!