Goodbye 2024 …

“Of all the people only those are at leisure who make time for philosophy, only they truly live. Not satisfied to merely keep good watch over their own days, they annex every age to their own. All the harvest of the past is added to their store. Only an ingrate would fail to see that these great architects of venerable thoughts were born for us and have designed a way of life for us.” — SENECA

As 2024 winds down, I was looking for an anchor around which to pen my end of year thoughts. And then, just by chance, the hubby sent me this quote last week and it felt perfect (thank you, Ravi Ravulaparthi ).

Like most years, I’m sure this one too has been full of busy activity throughout the year for most of us. This chronic busy-ness makes us go mindlessly from one day to the next, from one activity to the next … indeed from one Insta reel to the next. At the end of the year, we are left with the feeling of “wow, this year has just flown by!”

Yet another year draws to a close. For those us who are clocking up larger numbers in terms of years around the sun, the realisation of fewer years remaining hits home with growing frequency. And if these years are consumed with chronic busy-ness, oftentimes on someone else’s clock, then what are we left with?

Time is our most precious and finite asset, yet ironically, we tend to lend it out quite freely. And when we do that, we have this hollow feeling of time just passing by with a vague sense of stuff happening. Life is easy to miss, unless we make a point of noticing it.

This is why the quote above connected with me. In my interpretation, what it is saying (among other things) is that you only truly live when you take the time to contemplate. This is probably the key feature that distinguishes us from other creatures who also ‘live’. But they don’t have the capacity to reflect on what they are experiencing. We have this unique capability, but we are too busy on most days to bother about it.

And so we go through life missing the rainbows and the exquisite flowers that bloom around us on beautiful sunny days. Sometimes, we don’t even know where we are headed. We are just getting pulled along a journey that we aren’t even actively steering. That feels like a wasted opportunity ….

As this year gears up for its final curtain call, do take the time to pause and contemplate. Are you going where you want to go in life? Are you managing your time allocation portfolio as actively as you manage your stock portfolio? Are any changes needed?

Of course it is not possible to drop everything and become full-time philosophers. Contemplation won’t pay the bills, sadly. The demands and duties of life will mean that we may need to spend time (sometimes a disproportionate share!) on activities that may not be aligned to our larger purpose or interests. That’s just how it is.

However, with some active intervention, it is possible to claim back precious pockets of time for yourself. To notice at least a few of those rainbows, if not all. To deeply experience and truly live the moments that matter.

With a continuous fine-tuning of how our time is allocated, perhaps all those different experiences could come together and form an orchestra of magical harmony and resonance. Resonance has an echo that can embed in the memory and far outlast the moment. It can make the everyday feel meaningful.

So, whether it’s a work project or a personal milestone, do take the time to notice it deeply. Because we (only we!) can. And because when we do, then that’s when we’ve lived … which is the whole point of being on this planet anyway.

Closing with one of my favourite quotes … this time from a scientist.

“How can a three-pound mass of jelly that you can hold in your palm imagine angels, contemplate the meaning of infinity, and even question its own place in the cosmos? Especially awe inspiring is the fact that any single brain, including yours, is made up of atoms that were forged in the hearts of countless, far-flung stars billions of years ago. These particles drifted for eons and light-years until gravity and change brought them together here, now. These atoms now form a conglomerate- your brain- that can not only ponder the very stars that gave it birth but can also think about its own ability to think and wonder about its own ability to wonder. With the arrival of humans, it has been said, the universe has suddenly become conscious of itself. This, truly, it the greatest mystery of all.” — VS Ramachandran in his book The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Quest for What Makes Us Human

Wishing you a wonderful festive season & a great start to 2025!