On Making Free Time

We are busy.

Everywhere there is reverberation, a mixture of energy and noise that fills every microsecond of our existence.

We multitask like nobody’s business. No matter our location: walking the streets, laying in bed at home, sitting at the office, snuggled on the sofa with our loved ones.

At all hours we walk, talk, and browse the internet all at once on palm sized mobile phones and laptops which are now more like power houses, double edged swords expanding our communication and simultaneously shutting us off to the world around us.

We are buzzing by in a network of noise and information. Not only do we have to sort through brain waves but radio waves on top of social networks both in personal relations and online. So much is done yet we have no time.

Every second of every day has to be filled – watch this show, listen to this music, read this material – be entertained – be entertained – entertain – noise – noise – noise –

Breathe.

You have to remember to breath. To sit and listen to each breath that flows in and out of your body. Oxygen coming in and carbon dioxide traveling out. Just like your excrement the exhaled air is the useless and toxic that your body has processed and that needs to be expelled.

Eat. Never forget to eat.

Who says you can’t have crumbled bacon in your salad? Who says you can’t have fresh spinach or apple slices in your hamburger? Mix in your cravings – fried wings here, ice cream there, chips on break. Realize that you can never go on a diet. The definition of “diet” is the sum of foods an organism ingests for nutrients. It is okay to have and like sweets and fried food. Only mind your moderation.

Go to the park. Walk your dog. Walk yourself. Take an umbrella in the case of a light shower.

I recently found myself going too fast. So fast, in fact, that I tripped over myself and now I have a lingering sickness which makes it hard to focus on days off. Nursing oneself takes time and the frustration of not being able to spend that time on art was almost unbearable.

Almost.

I went to the store to purchase soup and a plush blanket. Sweeping by the aisles a pair of boots on display caught my fancy – the style of the buckles and straps around the ankles. Already in possession of my intended purchases I stopped and tried the boots on. My only and favorite pair had to be thrown out for I’d worn them to death and these had the build I favored: zipper up and close fitting but with stretch plaits at the top to allow for tucking in the legs of pants if desired. As I took the time to walk around the store I did not think about the five hundred tabs in my internet browser, the monster file of images I had to sort through, or the unfinished digital art I needed to do. Just walking felt nice, to not have to think of anything but whether or not the boots were worth the buy.

I did not buy the boots. I went home and closed all the nonessential tabs, cutting them down to five. If the research was that important I would get to it eventually.

One thing at a time, guys and gals. Remember to rest and enjoy the journey, not just the end point. Keep living stretches of moments, ride the rise and fall of the sine wave, and the end point will come to meet you.