An Hour’s Gift

Every year the controversy arises anew: to continue setting the clocks back an hour in autumn (and forward in the spring) or not? I don’t watch or listen to the news anymore, but like most annual events, this one could not pass by unnoticed. So I listened to some pros and a few cons; I appreciated how overnight workers might be peeved to have another hour tacked onto their shift; how babies and cows might be confused. Then I made a mental note to turn back my clock – and enjoy the ride.

But mostly I planned ahead. Not with any exactitude, mind you; it didn’t matter how much of the hour I would devote to this or that activity. But in general, I’d devised a conscious way of honoring the extra hour by divvying it up into little segments, peppering them – in increments – throughout my day. So there was just a tiny bit of a sleep-in. A few minutes more spent on my physio exercises. On the mountain, I walked a half hour longer than I would have normally; and when I returned home, a 30-minute nap morphed into one hour. A bit of Reiki self-treatment, followed by an art project (which alone could have taken half a day) and voila! – in no time at all – I’d tacked on that extra hour, plus, plus, plus!

There’s no time like the present to celebrate and indulge in presents like the one bequeathed upon us today; the precious gift of time. I was grateful for every bit of it. Merci + amen.