Speaking of Values in Action: What Do You Never Have Enough Of?

Money? Love? Clothes? Shoes? Friends? Energy? Sleep? Time?
[This is an old post from last year that seems to fit for now.]

There is a commercial on T.V. about the value of time and that we must fill it with what matters. Time is a resource that is non-renewable. When it is gone there is no replacing it. So all of that got me to thinking about time, and about what matters.

So if you want to fill it with what matters, what matters to you? And, are you spending time on what matters to you?

When I was working as a counselor/educator some of the exercises we put our clients through were value clarification exercises. We seldom really look at our values as often as we need to. Every choice we make either moves us toward what we value or away from it. 

Let's just look at the things we began this post with: Money, Love, Clothes, Shoes, Friends, Energy, Sleep,Time.

Money can buy clothes and shoes. Maybe enough money could offer you "friendship" of people attracted to your money. However, these aren't real friends. 

And while having enough money might make it possible for you to have the opportunity to sleep more, money alone won't help you go to sleep and sleep restfully. And energy? Wish it could! 

So when we spend our time on all those things, what will we have? Money won't buy love. 

What IS important to you? And what DO you fill your time with? 

Are you working long hours away from home and loved ones? What if you only worked enough hours to have your basic needs met. Then what would you do with your time?

Is feeling useful, doing kindness, or serving the good of others important to you? Are you spending any time on that?

I'm guilty of wasting LOTS of time, even though I know that at my age my allotted time is limited. I rationalize it by thinking I've been busy all my life and now I'm retired. Some tell me that if I'm doing something I enjoy I'm not really wasting my retirement time. 

And then another part of me tells me that there are other things that matter to me that I COULD be doing. That's when I work on this blog, or take surveys, or share information about causes I believe in, or keep in touch with family, or volunteer.

Funny, when I was working full time I didn't think about wasting time. There never seemed to be enough of it to waste! I loved my work and believed it was worthwhile. 

So where are you in this whole Time and Values thing? What do you think about how you are using your time?