BUSY-NESS AS A BADGE

This is what people do these days - they use busy-ness as a badge. Even people I respect (and yes, there are one or two) say to me "Have you been keeping busy?" It annoys me so much I reply "No, not if I can help it." Busy-ness itself has no worth at all. I could be busy raping and plundering the earth for my own gain, or outside in the garden spraying all my plants with insecticides or shopping for useless stuff made in a sweat-shop somewhere, but I could argue that yes, I have been busy.

Most people irritate me further by saying "You are so lucky to have time to....". Yes I am very lucky in lots of ways BUT I make time for what I consider important and I don't spend time shopping or doing whatever it is that makes other people wasteful of their time. I spent 20 years looking after my children and always had time for them and the things that we thought worthy of it. I still have time for them - anytime of the day or night they choose to visit and that is something I can be proud of and I know they now appreciate it a lot. They didn't have Play-Stations or X-boxes but they had me and my time, not to do everything for them but to help them grow up from two little boys into two fine men.

Every day has 24 hours, no matter whose day it is! Roger works hard and sometimes long, but his non-working time is not filled with being busy, for the sake of it. Sure it would be nice if our house was all orderly and the leaves raked off the lawn and the driveway clear of gum leaves and we had new carpets and kitchen cupboards and lots of new stuff to play with all the time. But you know what? Who ever, on their death bed, said "Oh, why didn't I buy more stuff? Why didn't I stay focused on the shallow and meaningless?"

Please, if you want to ask me something, ask me to visit your garden, ask me to share ideas with you, DON'T ask me if I have been busy! Remove the clutter not from your house or shed or yard but from your time. Sift out the things that tie you to the treadmill and think, really think, today, now even, about how you feel about your life and how you can become unbusy. Change your badge from 'busy and important' to 'taking time to care'.

Life is good. Get there fast and then take it slow.