Time: the enemy?

I have a love/hate relationship with time. Sometimes I feel like it's the enemy, conspiring to make everything I do feel rushed, uncomfortable and unsatisfactory. At other times,  time is more amenable and I can use it as I choose, blending things I need to do with things I choose to do and time spent just being.

So far whilst writing this blog, workloads have been such that time has felt reasonably friendly, but in the past week we're at daggers drawn again. Every car journey has been as fast as (legally) possible, I've arrived at appointments in the nick of time or a few minutes late, my mind scattered and buzzing with random thoughts. I've double booked appointments too, a sure sign of trying to do too much and not spending time just being.

A short walk this evening brought this into focus. I had to - no, I had OFFERED to deliver some leaflets to neighbours, a 20 minute task at most. I'd put it off for several days already - it's too wet, it's too late, I'm too busy... arriving home in the early evening sun, there was no excuse and off I went. I became aware of my mind feverishly computing alternative routes to find the quickest; of the urge to get some phone calls done at the same time. Mindfully letting these thoughts pass as best I could, it became easier to appreciate the quality of the light, the (reasonably) warm breeze, the birdsong and the riotous floral displays in the gardens as I went.

However, I can't say the same for the snappy yappy terriers behind some of the letter boxes...