What is your treasure ?

I remember when I was younger, 'adults' would say to me "as you get older, time speeds up". As I am getting older, they seem to be bloody right. The days, weeks, months and years are flying by. 'Time' is always an interesting subject ... does time even exist some question ? and what about time zones ? I once flew from New Zealand on the 8th of November and arrived into the Americas on the 7th of November, I had gone back in time, that was pretty trippy. And in certain parts of India they are 5 and a '1/2' hours in front, where does the '1/2' come from ? strange but true. And in space there are such things as 'time warps' the ability to travel through universe with seemingly no time at all. 

There was a young lady of Wight,

Who traveled much faster than light,
She departed one day,
In a relative way,
And arrived on the previous night. 

( I didn't make this limerick up btw)

TIME... 

What a great subject. Time is also closely related to 'Money' if you think about it ... we can spend money, and we can spend time. In 'business' the saying goes  'time is money' !

Money can also be seen as 'Treasure', and we also have the ability to 'Treasure Time' 'Treasured memories ' ... I'm loving how all these words interlink.  So if money and time are seen as treasure ... and treasure is valuable ... then how you 'spend' your 'time' must also be of value ? 

I can come to the logic conclusion that a ' financially rich person' spends their 'money' wisely for they do not wish to waste their bank account ... and a 'humanly rich person' spends their 'time' wisely for they do not wish to waste their life. The difference of course is that money spent can be made back, and time, ' in that specific moment'... is lost forever... time spent well on the other hand lasts for ever.

So the question begs ... how do you spend your time ? is your time valuable ? are you even aware of what is valuable in you life ? are you wasting valuable time ? ... Zoom forward and imagine yourself at your own funeral ... looking down, you see the faces of your loved ones, friends, parents, spouse, children, work colleagues ... how do you wish to be remembered ? what qualities or achievements would you like each person to remember you by ? what legacy would you like to leave behind ? What treasure would you like to be buried with ? Would you like to be buried with the your treasured money or your treasured time ? ... when we deeply think about these things, our values are put into perspective. I believe when you live a life of deep value, and align your life to be in harmony those values, with a sense of purpose and mission ... then it is less likely that you will waste your time. You will know what is important to you, and your life's decisions will be made much easier because your choices will be evaluated against the vision and mission of your life. If your life's purpose is not  ingrained in your heart, then you are very likely to stray and become confused about your life. Our mission and purpose will act as compass, so if we ever do lose track, we can resort back to our purpose to find our way back to our path.

Remember, you do not have to be dead in order to 'not be living' ...  does your heart beat with life and zest ... or does your heart beat with boredom and gloom ...

" for where your heart is, there will also be your treasure"

Here is an exercise that is easy, and can determine what is your TRUE treasure and what is your FALSE treasure. It will help you with your 'self awareness' to understand how you spend your time,resources and what you value in your life .. its easy, fun and probably very surprising !

STEP 1  

Write down every thing in your life in which you 'THINK' you treasure, in what you think you desire and value most in your life ?

Step 2

Now, prioritize the list in order of importance. The most important being at the top of the list and then least important at the bottom.

Step 3

Now, write down along side all the things you have wrote in your list 'how much time' you spend 'doing' that thing you think you treasure... and be very honest !

Step 4

Re examine your list. Does the amount of time you spend engaging your treasure reflect the importance of your treasure? 

 It is logic to assume that the most important things on your list will be the things that you spend the most time doing. If you find the most important treasure at the top of your list has the least amount of time allocated to it, then I would suggest re evaluating the importance of your treasures

 E.g. If your children are the most important thing for you, then it makes sense that a lot of time and effort will be put into your children, and so the time allocated to that treasure would be quite high. Or if you placed at the top of your list, your job, your partner, your community, God ... then they would naturally have the most time allocated to them. 

However ... lets say at the top of your list you wrote your children, your partner, your family or your job to represent what you 'think' are your most important treasures.  Look at the time spent allocated for those things. If you realize that little time is spent engaging in those things, and that you actually spend a big chunk of your time doing other stuff, one would have to honestly ask themselves ' do I really treasure what I am saying I treasure ? 

With this awareness I can now look at my life and determine what is it I truly treasure. If I am living my life and not spending time being active in my treasures, then I can ask myself two questions :

1. Do I really value what I think is my treasure ?

or

2. Are there some fears preventing me from engaging myself in my treasure ?

If my answer is number 1, then I can simply re evaluate my priorities. 

If my answer is number 2, I can then work towards and become proactive in dissolving my fears, so that I can move forward and engage in my treasures.  

This exercise requires deep honesty with your self. Faking the amount of time you spend doing certain things will only lead to self deception and will not help you. Some things on your list maybe multitasking and that's OK, like I can play sports and be in nature at the same time, or I can do my gardening and pray at the same time.

Well ... I hope you have found this post useful, it can be quite an eye opener. I myself am in the process of really evaluating how I spend my time, what is important to me and what are my true treasures. The depth of your values, will dictate the depth and greatness of your life. Does your treasure make only yourself rich or does what you value enrich the whole of humankind and all of creation ? I predict the more selfless your treasures the greatest joy will feel, your treasures will be spent well... what you sew, you reap.

Over time, what you treasure may change, and its good to be aware of that ... but remember ' Time waits for nobody ' ...

.... So get to it, get involved, challenge yourself, create a vision, attend to your mission, ...don't delay your love, for it will bring you your greatest joy ... Oh ...and never ever give up, never give up, never give up ....never give up because...

...“Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure. You've got to find the treasure, so that everything you have learned along the way can make sense.”― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
Now... you must watch this moving clip which supports my post today. Enjoy with love and share