Tag Archives: self development

The Time of Our Lives

“Time is the school in which we learn, Time is the fire in which we burn.” are the profound last lines of the poem, Calmly We Walk through This April’s Day, by Delmore Schwartz. It’s a beautiful philosophical contemplation of the passage of time, with a particularly great wrap-up last stanza.

The seconds, minutes, hours tick away relentlessly. Our lives are busy, and inundated with many distractions and responsibilities. Lately I’m looking at my age and thinking, “Wow! It’s going faster than I ever imagined at age 18.”

Realistically, we don’t have time to sit around and endlessly ponder about the value of time and our lives. But, it’s useful to carve out a little time (from time to time) for such introspection. Because your life IS precious, and the clock IS ticking. Ask yourself in this moment, are you spending your life the way you really desire to?

It is crucially important to have vision and intention for our lives. Otherwise, we will just end up with someone else’s idea of how life should be.

Inspirational Time Quotes:

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” ~ Mark Twain

“Each day means a new twenty-four hours. Each day means everything’s possible again. You live in the moment, you die in the moment, you take it all one day at a time.” ~ Marie Lu

“Don’t waste your time in anger, regrets, worries, and grudges. Life is too short to be unhappy.” ~ Roy T. Bennett

“All endings are also beginnings. We just don’t know it at the time.” ~ Mitch Albom

Happy New Year! Wishing you all the best for 2026. 🙂

Reverence

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Message in a Bottle

Chisel not my name
onto elegant stone,
so you that I love
might become slave
to a time and place
that no longer holds
my soul, to which you
could become tied,
lost in sorrow and
life’s limitations.

Rather, joyfully cast
my dust to the wind, so
I may dance on the breeze,
and one day as the leaves
rustle gently overhead,
you will feel me there,
riding a ray of sunshine
kissing your face, and
I’ll whisper in your ear,
“Remember to live free.”

Happy

True, real, enduring,
happiness is being at
peace with who we are.

Poems are from Soul Journey: The Poetry of Life.

Pieces of Me

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Who am I? Genetics, environment, and experience, they have all helped to shape me. I was born into this life with a touch of auburn in my hair from Dad, and long piano playing fingers from Mom.

But father, why did you not give me the flaming locks that run in your Scottish family? Why just a whisper of red for me? I have a fire inside that rages, and a call to blaze a path in this world. My Maori friend calls me “Fire”. Perhaps it is so my flame is evident only to those with eyes that see deeper?

And mother, why was I born with your hands and no musical talent? It felt cruel. It was a source of frustration to me that I failed at piano lessons. Perhaps it was so I could learn to see in myself what is, rather than what is not?

One summer afternoon, the girl I was lay on her bed daydreaming. I left my body and up I rose until I floated among the stars, tethered to Earth by a slender silver thread. I felt infinity for the first time, and I realized that I was so much more than they were telling me.

I am the artist in France, learning to express my soul on canvas. In this present life, I recall those lessons easily. Painting is like breathing to me. That other self walks in Monet’s garden, and I yearn to again. A photo of the Seine in the fog makes my heart ache with longing. It is a happy life.

I am the Japanese geisha in love with a powerful man. He loves me, but we cannot be together. Even now, pink cherry blossoms in spring make my heart both sing and weep, all at the same time. The lesson? I love and I am loved. In the end, the love is all that is important.

Sometimes when I walk along the sidewalk, I recognize a piece of myself in a stranger’s eyes. How can I say what it is exactly? It is fleeting, but I see it, and I feel it.

When I pass a beggar on the street, I attach a blessing to the coin I give. In my mind I say, “I know you, and I feel your pain. I have been where you are. It is a lesson you are learning, and it will all be okay.”

There is so much of me flooding in from the world, sometimes I feel overwhelmed by it. So I wash the dishes or sweep the floor, ordinary tasks that ground me in the here and now.

But I can never deny to myself, or to the world, that which I know to be true: I am stardust. I am Infinite. I am part of it All.

Pieces of Me is an excerpt from Becoming Bigger: In a world that wants to keep you small. Find it for sale in my bookstore here, or get this collection of life inspiration free when you subscribe for occasional newsletters here.