If you didn't have the time to do all the things that you wanted to do in a day, or week, or in life generally speaking then would you buy time if it were a commodity? It would be like walking into your favourite corner shop and buying a lottery ticket only it would be a designation or a period of time. We all at some point in our needlessly busy lives wished that we possessed the ability or power to halt or slow down time even if for a second, and then ruminate over what we may have done differently in that relived moment. Alas though, we do not possess any such power or ability, it only exists in our minds and in there we can do whatever we please when we please. Time after all is a matter of perception! I can remember when I was a child…the school summer holidays passed by in slow motion and I didn't have a care in the world, they seemed to just go on and on for an eternity, but as I grew older and more responsibility was thrust upon me I began to notice time more, or should I say…lack of time!

A day for me just goes by now, all 24 hours of them and I hardly notice what I have achieved, all I notice is what I have failed to do when I have set out with the best intentions at the start of the day to accomplish something. Time goes faster when you are enjoying yourself (we all know that one) and when you get older it doesn't necessarily follow that because you are getting slower and taking your time over things that time is getting slower….waiting for you! In fact, time is passing by more quickly, or your perception of it is anyway.

So…the point of this self confessed admittance is to clarify why I have not posted an entry in this blog for a while, it is a question of time my friends and nothing more. I have so many interests all vying for attention at the same time and I find myself either too distracted or too tired to do any of them. Time management is complicated at best and I'm certainly not going to start it now, I tend to go with what I know I can accomplish and to hell with everything else! 

I like to create music, art, graphic art etc…and just lately it has been like a loud voice in my head progressively getting louder shouting……"DO SOMETHING DAMMIT!!" so after a while I tend to take notice of it and drop everything else until the creative spirit has been exorcised and laid to rest. Blogging I like, but I am no slave to it, I just need to take a step back from it once in a while so I can concentrate on other things of importance too me…..I'm sure we all can associate with that one.   

A colleague of mine where I work recounted a story to me a while ago from a time when he was 16 years old and living in Ghana his birth place, 'L' (my colleague who shall remain anonymous in respect of his privacy) used to go and watch 'when ever there was one' the local football match in the village where he lived. There was a league system in place similar to that found here in Britain and the teams would also adopt the names of the top British clubs…namely Manchester Utd, Chelsea etc. He told me that he could not recall the names of the two teams playing that day, but what he would remember was an analogy an old man (village elder) used to describe what he thought of the two teams performance.

'L' was sitting amongst the crowd who were enjoying the spectacle before them and sitting next to him was the village elder, his name was 'Kwasi Oppong' (Kwasi meaning Sunday born, Oppong being his surname)…apparently, in Ghanaian villages christian names were given over to week day names…anyway, as the match progressed 'Oppong' watched in silence at the less than remarkable performance displayed by the two teams, and after a while and totally out of the blue he said…"they are trees not Crocodiles", now 'L', having heard this wondered what he had meant and asked…"Oppong what do you mean?"…, Oppong paused a moment, then went on to explain…"when a tree becomes old, or broken, or damaged by storms, the pieces fall down into the river below, they are old timber and stay on the surface for many many years, no one would remove them…and all the dirt and algae would stick to the wood and you would not recognize them as trees anymore…when you look at these pieces of tree from a distance they look like Crocodiles?, it is only when you watch them for a time then go close up to them that you realise they are not Crocodiles but trees!", now 'L', still perplexed by what Oppong had just said, asked…"but what has this got to do with the football match?"….Oppong answered…"these teams have great names but their performance is not good, they do not live up to the names they have, so therefore, they are trees pretending to be Crocodiles!"

To this day 'L' (now 46) has never forgotten these words spoken by the wise 'Kwasi Oppong' on that hot, early evening many years ago in Ghana, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank 'L' for passing this wonderful analogy on to me.

'L' became one of the lucky few who recieved a good education and has found his way in the world, he is now a technician where I work, in fact higher than me! I guess that makes him a Crocodile, and me a tree.

I was speaking with a friend a couple of days ago who felt a bit down and lonely, and as the conversation went on I suddenly remembered a story I read somewhere about a monk in Tibet. I used it as a life lesson for my friend to remember…….

Two Tibetan monks were walking in to town from their monastary in order to get supplies, one, a pupil or understudy, and the other, his master. A few miles down the road they came across a man lying in the middle of the street…he was a down and out, a tramp, and looked wretched. The pupil gave him a wide birth and walked around him, but his master went over to the man, picked him up and carried him to the road side to safety. Having got their supplies, the two monks now headed back to the monastery. The pupil became very quiet and troubled as their journey continued, the master sensing this asked his student "what is troubling you?" the pupil replied…."master, why did you carry that man to safety he was wretched?"……the master then replied…."I left him back in the town, why are YOU still carrying him?".

That day, the pupil had been given a valuable lesson, "never carry a burden any further than you have to"