Most of us have cell phones and are usually concerned about the number of minutes we have on our plan. When our minutes get low, we are very careful about how we use those minutes. I thought about comparing the cell phone minutes with the minutes we have in our lives. Let’s look at this. Cell phone – we know the number of minutes allocated to us, and maybe we are on the unlimited plan. Now, let’s look at our lives. We don’t know how many minutes we have and we are definitely not on the unlimited minutes plan. But what would you do if you actually knew how many minutes you had in your life? How would you use them? I believe that most of us use our minutes like we are on the unlimited plan, as we like to say, I have all the time in the world. Why do today, what I can do tomorrow. Now I have been told that I am slow, (Not slow mentally) LOL, but slow moving. My significant other, says I am always late, have no concept of time, and when I say I’m ready, he automatically knows what I really mean is I’ll be ready in about 15 to 20 minutes.
I started thinking about how I used to spend my time. How did I actually use my minutes? I would wake up, the phone would ring, I talked (got some juicy gossip) talked too long, no time for meditation, had to jump in the shower, no breakfast, left the house late, turned on the radio, listened to a morning drive show, started thinking about a negative conversation I had, focused on that, (very non-productive) since I only thought of how I angry I was, and got angry all over again. The rest of the workday went well, I accomplished my goals at the office, arrived home, but the rest of the evening was spent very non-productively, watched TV from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., chatted on the phone, started reading what I call a trashy novel, went to bed late. BOY! When I looked at it, I wasted a lot of time, a lot of minutes. Then I thought, what if that was the last day of my life? Unlike the cell phone, I didn’t know whether I had a lot of minutes left or only a few. But I do know, that I am not on the unlimited minute plan. Someone once said, “The present minute is the only minute you have, use it wisely.”
I decided to change to what would become a typical day. I usually have a schedule, or things I want to accomplish in a day. What are these things? Wake up at 6:15a.m., do 5 minutes of meditation, eat breakfast, shower, be out of the house by 7:30a.m. On the way home from the office, listen to an educational tape, arrive home, prepare dinner, watch an hour of TV, read something informational or motivational, plan the next day, and then go to bed by 10:30 p.m. A pretty good use of the minutes I have in a day. What I consider using my minute wisely.
Now I realize, that it’s almost impossible, to think of and be aware of every minute in a day, but periodically, during the day, take a step back, and do a little evaluation of how you are using your time. Are you using it worrying about something you cannot change, or are you using it to promote a positive change, are you using your time to speak negatively about someone, or are you using your time to lift someone up? Are you helping someone in need, are you improving yourself? How are you using your minutes?
My charge to you is to use your minutes wisely, because you really don’t know how many minutes you have left. When you think about it, the present minute is the only minute you have. The next time you look at your cell phone to check your minutes, think about the minutes you may have left in your life. Sometimes a minute seems like an hour, on the other hand, a minute can seem like split second, because time is relative. However, it is the most valuable thing you have to spend. Spend your minutes wisely!
