Time to contemplate.

I had a mixture of thoughts in my mind after a very interesting conversation I had with a friend just the other day. It all began with my making comment on the latest piece of interesting information. It seems that it has become so much the norm now that it is no longer considered bad manners to look at your mobile phone while at the dining table.

How easily it seems to cast aside things that were considered precious at one time. Please forgive me if I sound as if I am a neanderthal but there is something good about holding on to some of those things that seemed to matter. 

I was brought up to believe that being at the table eating a meal was such a wonderful thing that it should be cherished. That it was bad mannered to be not giving those whom you were sharing with your undivided attention. But sadly less and fewer people sit around a dining table and equally fewer even sit together. 

We live such rushed and hurried lives. My mother and mother in law would have had a heart attack if somebody spoke to them with a mouthful of food, but now it is even possible to eat a meal while chewing gum. Such is the pace of life.

In the last few days, I have been painting one or two portraits and dog portraits. These take considerable concentration and loads of time. I can spend hours working on one painting and often over more than one session. Time to contemplate, to consider and measure the quality of life. 

When I did the above cockerel painting in about twenty minutes I became acutely aware of that which was missing, the time and the benefits of time.

An old woodsman gives this advice about catching a porcupine: "Watch for the slapping tail as you dash in and drop a large washtub over him. The washtub will give you something to sit on while you ponder your next move." 

I suspect in this modern age we would have difficulty with the word ponder. We do not have the time anymore to contemplate, consider or cogitate over. Everything is done in little sound bites and politicians operate on the basis that nobody has time to be bothered so just say something that sounds good, no need to flesh it out and give it meaning, just do it.

Hurry Hurry Hurry

It is the age of short span action,

Reading headlines only,

And moving ever onwards. 

The quick tweet, even emails are too long.

The age of the mad dash.

Nerves tingling tight,

The quickie divorce.

The brief stop to say hello.

The one-minute news update.

The tan from a bottle

or the little lamp.

Little shorts to blow your mind.

It leads to brain strain,

heart pain.

No time to sleep.

Got that ladder to climb.

Then comes the winter of our lives,

I missed the spring and summer.

I was in too much of a rush to see it flying by.

The art of listening and taking time to let those around us know we have time for them and what they are saying is important, rather than constantly checking to see if some other person just might be trying to get in touch.

Technology is a wonderful thing, and that comes from the mouth of a tech geek, but it is in danger of stealing that which give solidity to life.

I remember the days before telephones were in every home never mind in every pocket and handbag. I can remember when they sat on a desk or table. 

I had a rule in those days. if I was sitting talking with somebody who had taken the time to come and see me I never answered that phone sitting on the desk ringing. When asked why I was not answering it I said, "Right now you are the most important person in my life, not the person who is trying to interrupt us."

Can you for one minute imagine that happening now? 

Have a wonderful day take some time to contemplate and cogitate and ponder, oh and remember the porcupine uder that bucket.