you think you have time

"The trouble is, you think you have time." - Buddha

This profound quote graces the wall of my little yoga studio and I think about it often. If I ever chose a tattoo with words, it would be these. Recently, one of my students asked me what it meant. "Isn't spare time a good thing? How else would I make time for yoga!?" she mused.

If you take the time (no pun intended) to think about these words, the real "trouble" does not lie in free time or even idleness. It's that for as busy as we all are, we still think we have all the time in the world– time to waste –squandering it on trivial goals, meaningless jobs, toxic relationships...etc. always with our eyes on the next milestone. Our actual lives end up lost in the shuffle of our daily routine because we think we have this TIME. 

Especially when you're young, life seems long. The whole future is laid out ahead of you. But how quickly that can be changed (in the blink of an eye) and how futile our little plans are anyway. All the more reason to live for each breath you have.

Whether or not you've seen or heard these words before, I encourage you to think about this quote. Reflect on what it means in your life and pause to remind yourself what you're really doing here.