Time Holds Everything

TimeTime holds everything.  Like air, it is a fundamental medium in which we live our lives.  Everything that we experience exists in time.

That includes the joyous wonder of births and beginnings, and the horror and loss of tragedies like the shooting rampage at the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday.

It is very hard to know what to say or do … or write … when confronted with events that touch us so deeply and painfully.  Even if we are not directly affected, we can relate on some level.

We feel all sorts of feelings.  We are shaken to our core; and we cannot wrap our minds around the enormity of the darkness.

Time seems relentless and unforgiving in these moments.

Something terrible has happened and there is no going back.  What ifs haunt our thoughts, as we look toward a future that has been changed, irretrievably, in an instant.

It’s a powerless feeling, facing that future that looks so painful and empty, yet looms.  It is coming toward us and we can’t stop it, even as we struggle to find our footing.

Time holds everything.

Because we are mortal, living our fragile and precious lives in the flow of time, we all feel the ripples of Sandy Hook.  The losses and griefs that we have experienced (or that we fear) are awakened … heightened.   We feel so vulnerable.

What to do?  What to feel?  What to say?

Find time to be just exactly where you are.

This is a time when coming to yourself and connecting with the most basic things is imperative.

Don’t look to the far future or to the past.  Not right now.

Let your vision rest on what’s nearest to hand.  The ground beneath your feet.  The in-breath and then the out-breath.  One step and another.  This moment, then the next.

Let yourself open as you can.  Let yourself learn as you can.

Time moves. Healing comes.

But you can’t even think about that now. Just one step, then the next. You can take in enormities only bit-by-bit.

With loving energy for everyone touched by this tragedy …

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Comments

  1. Paula –

    Thank you so much for posting this. I have been struggling with the enormity of Friday’s tragedy, and appreciate the advice to take it in as I can. That is so helpful – and I can see how it’s really the only way to do it. So, thank you …

    Jordy

  2. Paula thank you for the wise reminder. It feels so helpful to remember that the place we are truly safe and nurtured is within – when we can take a breath and take stock of what is before us in the moment only.

  3. Hi Jordy –

    Thank you for stopping by. I am very glad that you found these thoughts helpful.

    Paula

  4. Hi Jill –

    I appreciate you words and couldn’t agree more. Going within we find our way … always.

    Paula

  5. Dear Paula,

    Thanks so much for your wise and loving counsel. You provide a humane path that centers on self care while honoring the losses suffered by families in Sandy Hook.

    You help me understand that in grounding ourselves in this precious moment, we hold ourselves. Only then can we begin to touch the enormity of the miracle of our lives and the tragedy of senseless deaths.

  6. Lisa Kneller says

    Paula,

    This was beautiful. Thank you for sharing these deep and profound thoughts on time. I love how you say that time holds everything. So true.

    Blessings,

    Lisa

  7. Hi Alison –

    Thank you for sharing your additional insights, and I absolutely agree that self care is key in making it possible to ground ourselves in the moment – and thereby open ourselves to all that life brings.

  8. I appreciate your stopping by, Lisa, and am so glad that this post resonated for you. I, too, love knowing that time holds everything. It’s so true – and offers a realistic, rich, and ever-deepening perspective on our lives.

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