SOUL. Spending Time vs. Saving Time.
It was Fall 2014, and I had just finished my pre-med and nutrition degree at Cornell in June, then hopped right on a plane to lead a 5-week, 1200-mile bike trip from Paris to Nice with twelve teenage kids in tow for my summer job (with the help of my awesome co-leader). I am not saying any of this seem as braggadocios or worldly, as I feel anything but. Just merely trying to convey I had packed a lot in, per usual, and was freaking exhausted both mentally and physically. Soulfully too, I am sure.
Little did I know, I had landed in no better place to un-exhaust myself than a Tuscan farm for an internship in organic farming for four months. If you have ever experienced Italy, you may have an idea that if it rains or gets too cold, Italians generally don’t work outside. The time I spent in Italian culture taught me the value of rest, slowing down and doing less (part of the reason why I think Italy has better health metrics across the board than America). Fall 2014 was the first time I had blank space in a while - a long while. Hours to read. Or go on a long solo walk. Write under an olive tree. To have an extended, unhurried meal that was cooked and prepared just as slowly. There was such a wonderful sense of space that felt foreign to me. It was a welcomed contrast.
It was during this time I came across a wonderful and short book on the farm shelf that I have continued to read (almost) annually in the last decade: The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff. I re-read it so frequently because I always pick up some new little nugget in its witty and playful 150 pages of philosophy. One concept and chapter struck me in particular with the contrast of busyness to stillness during this time:
“Practically speaking, if time saving devices really saved time, there would be more time available to us ever before in history. But strangely enough, we seem to have less time than even a few years ago. It’s really great to go to a place where there are no timesaving devices, because when you do, you find that you have lots of time ... The main problem with the great obsession for Saving Time is very simple: you can’t save time. You can only spend it. And you can spend it wisely or foolishly ... by trying to save every bit of it, [you] end up wasting the whole thing.”
This resonated so deeply with me when I read it. Here I was with no “time-saving devices” like a car, microwave, high speed internet access, international phone plan. And I felt such a luxury of time that I had never before experienced with all the stuff and schedule I was so used to.
So, here’s are a couple queries for the very soul of your being that is very counter to our culture: How much time are you really saving in a day? In what ways are you spending your time? I agree with Benjamin Hoff, Time cannot be saved, only spent.
I recommend it is truly good soul medicine to get out and away from the busyness of trying to save time to enjoy less of it. Get to a place without service. Maybe it’s car camping. Or backpacking. Or even just an hour walk without your phone. Or just being an hour without a phone or device, no walk necessary. A gentle invite to a created space where time is enjoyed, savored, spent - not saved.
It jus so happens I will be leading a 4-day retreat to this very impactful place in my life, my Italian home-away-from-home, this October. It will be here, at Spannocchia, where I hope to fill others with a sense of wonder for this sense of slowing down and savoring. I hope you will consider joining me.
