Encouraging Words: Time Out

A man, working at a sawmill, lost a watch that was valuable to him. He and his co-workers searched for the watch but without success. Finally, they shut down the mill for lunch. When they returned, a little boy was sitting in the sawdust playing with the watch. When asked how he found it, he replied, “I lay down in the sawdust and heard it ticking.”

Sometimes we say, “stop and smell the roses.” Our lives get so caught up in the busyness and activity of living and “earning a living” that we are overwhelmed by life. It becomes difficult for us to sit down and do nothing. We somehow feel guilty that we are not accomplishing something with every particle of time. Perhaps that’s why we see so many people who are burned out.

The little boy in the anecdote demonstrates an important aspect in life that we overlook; that we miss some very valuable things in life because we do not take time to be quiet to listen and discover them. The ticking of the watch could not be heard with the drone of the sawmill machinery, and likewise creativity and genius cannot be heard with the hubbub of life pounding in our head. Sometimes on a warm day, or night, lie down in the grass and look up at the sky. Imagine what the shapes of clouds or arrangements of stars are. Turn off the TV, radio and other external stimuli; get a blank pad of paper and a pencil. Sitting in a comfortable chair, doodle or write the things you think about. Find a little kid and play tag, hide and seek or other children’s games. Do something to get away from the noise and activity associated with the industrialized world. Do it on a regular basis and your sanity will slowly return to you. Who knows, one day you may go out to play children’s games and become a child again.