Time is a precious commodity, way more valuable than diamonds or rubies or emeralds. Today, despite a jam-packed schedule, I risked some of my time.
A friend from out-of-town and staying with me, called to say she was at work, an hour away, and she’d forgotten something critical for her day. She couldn’t leave, and asked if I had the time to drive it to her.
Of course I didn’t have the time. No way. My mental to-do list immediately popped into my consciousness. I’m teaching a joy diet class in a few hours, I’m in the middle of writing a blog post, my email is piling up, and there are a bunch of phone calls to make…. The list is endless, limited only by my ability to dream up things to add to it. Besides, it’s rush hour, and it might take two hours. Or longer if there’s an accident on the expressway….
Being on the joy diet, though, I noticed the discomfort I was feeling. A quick assessment of the Truth revealed that I will never complete that to-do list, and I had an opportunity to be a real friend in need. I told her I would do it.
I took a few extra minutes to assemble some Treats for my journey–a cup of hot tea and some lyrical cds for the road. I also reminded myself to expect the traffic to be heavy, and not to be surprised or get upset when it actually was slow-going or there was an accident.
The extra few minutes for Treats was well worth it. I enjoyed the drive and used it to do my 15 minutes of Nothing, and the rest of the time just to goof-off. The tea and music were delightful, too. And the look of relief on my friend’s face was priceless.
I drove home, finished preparing this morning’s class, and let the rest of the list wait. Sometimes that’s what joy is about.
0 responses so far ↓
1 hatt // Nov 5, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Hey joy group!
I love the image of snake in a box from yesterday’s post. Today my risk was to do my entire yoga practice at home without my teacher helping. It takes some amount of time and quite a bit of trust in my own ability. It was wonderful. My treat was to light a beautiful smelly candle (as my kids call them) while I rested in corpse pose for my 15 minutes of nothing. After our session yesterday I realized that the “treat” step is one I have already incorporated into my life. But I am really looking forward to being more intentional about 3 treats a day. woohoo. And I mean that sincerely!
2 Cam // Nov 5, 2008 at 8:00 pm
great post terry! it’s always terrific when a friend smiles in gratitude.
i really appreciate these shared experiences. i drove a friend to the airport at the last minute a couple of weeks ago and was not as generous in spirit so it was neat to see that there are other ways for me to have that experience.
3 Suzanne // Nov 7, 2008 at 9:05 am
Treats are great and giving ourselves a treat just for the sake of it is even better.
I smile when my daughter’s dog Oscar comes for a visit or when my husband and I dog sit. His little bunny is always with him.
When Oscar has his meal, he dips his bunny in the dish a few times as if he wants his bunny to eat first. This is something he has done for a long time and every time we see him doing this action it always put a smile on our faces. Right now I am smiling as I write this blog.
I want to put in writing a commitment to our joy group. I commit myself to walk daily for at least 20 minutes for this week and as the weeks progress to add 10 minutes more.
This is big for me as exercise is a negative word. So I will call this exercise my “Daily Joy Walk”.
I look forward to Tuesday morning.
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