To manage time properly, eyes should be turned back onto the subject.
Who will utilize time? Who wastes time?
So, the concept of time management is not about time at all. It is about the self, it is about the mind.
When someone asks that how to utilize time, then he has made a very arrogant assumption. His assumption is – “Everything is alright with me, it is just this small aspect of time utilization that I falter in. Everything else is good”.
It is like this that there is something wrong with my entire physical system, my blood, my very blood has a lot of impurities and because of this there are a lot of symptoms that are showing up on my body: my heart is under-pressure, my kidneys are not functioning well, my lever is enlarged, I keep feeling sleepy, I keep forgetting, my brain doesn't function properly, the blood is impure, there are few pimples on my face. I go to the doctor and say, “Sir, my problem is that I have a few pimples on my face.”
Now, am I wise when I say that the pimple is my problem? Is my problem only that I have pimples? What is my problem? My entire being is my problem. My very blood is my problem, right? But what am I focusing on? Pimples! Now the doctor can give you a cream that will remove the pimples.
Will that solve your problem?
This pimple gone, another pimple will come up. Right or Wrong?
It is not about time at all. Ask yourself, How do I manage myself‟? Because it is the self that is wasting the time. It is the self that is wasting everything that is around it.
So, we will go to the more basic question, to the more useful question, and that is how to manage the mind, because it is the mind that waste time. We will forget time. Nobody can manage time. Time just flows, time cannot be managed. What can be managed? The Self, my own mind that needs to be managed.
You need to then ask yourself, “What does my mind find attractive?” What does your mind do most of the time? There are twenty-four hours in the day for everybody. Ask yourself that where do these twenty-four hours go. When you will look at this, you will come across your values. You will come to know what it is that is preferred in life. Because whatever you prefer in life is where you spend your time.
If you have told yourself that the biggest pleasure in life is sleeping, then don't be surprised if you find that you are sleeping eleven hours a day. “Why do I sleep eleven hours a day? Because I have thoroughly convinced myself that sleeping is the highest happiness."
Similarly, if you have convinced yourself that roaming around here and there is the biggest pleasure that is possible, then don't be surprised if you spend four hours gossiping, because you have told that to your own mind.
We are looking at the mind. We said that we will find out how we spend our time. And when we find that out, we immediately come upon our values. “What have I told myself to be valuable?” Whatever you have told yourself to be valuable you will find that your time is going there.
Please be assured that somewhere you are convinced that the thing for which you cannot find time, that thing is not important. It is embedded deep in your psyche that it is not important. So, howsoever much you try, you will still find no time. Had it really been important, had you been careful enough to really examine and see its importance, time would have made itself available, because there are twenty-four hours in a day for everybody.
How is it possible that somebody finds time and somebody doesn't? You are the one who is allotting time and you allot the time according to your values. It is a question of values.
Be convinced, time does not slip away. Time strictly follows your values. So, if you say that, “I don't know, time just flies away”, then you are deceiving yourself.
No, time never flies away. Every second of it is controlled by your mind. If you do not find time for studying, the conclusion is obvious that you do not find studying valuable. In your value system, you do not accord priority to studying. That is why you cannot give time to studying.
In your value system, had studying been important, time would have presented itself. Is this becoming clear?
It is not about time at all, it is about my mind, the values enshrined in it. Is this becoming clear?
“I find it deeply valuable that one must sit with the family and watch television.” So, don't be surprised if three hours a day you are doing that.
“My definition of valuable friendship is when I talk 3 hours a day to somebody on mobile phone.” So, don't be surprised if you talk three hours a day on mobile phone. You are spending time exactly according to your values, not even a second is spent otherwise.
When you will find what is really valuable in your life, then you will find time for it.
Submitted September 13, 2018 at 04:28AM by acharya-prashant https://ift.tt/2x30bC7
