Getting Somewhere in Good Time
I am going somewhere and I’m excited. And I am finally wise enough to know I will get there in good time.
“Good time” is not “on time.” “Good time” indicates the process and the journey were successful. “On time” is an expectation and a commitment that places value in meeting a schedule rather than living a life.
“Good time” is not always fun time or happy time. Good time is productive, creative, generative time filled with meaning, significance, purpose and effective surprises.
Now I keep appointments with other people… rarely early, sometimes late, usually close to the moment. But I am not great at keeping appointments with myself and my work. (Yes, this is another version of time for yourself. There are so many ways to look at our relationship to time.)
My mind is almost always in the fast lane. My will is almost always in a traffic jam. My mind arrives too early, my will too late. All in good time. Good time is a feeling that slows down my mind and speeds up my will.
Right now my life needs a parking valet who knows just where all my projects are parked. I tend to just jump out of a project leaving the engine running and find another project with its motor running. I never seem to be able to turn the key off and put the project in park, let alone find a parking space. Yes, a valet would be great.
Metaphors
Metaphors really help me get to my truth. If I use this parking valet metaphor, I can play with that role. I love the way a valet can look at a wall of keys and grab the right ones as he runs off to get the car. Then he jumps out of the car, holds the door while I get in and smiles as he closes the door and sends me off. Just what I need as I go from one project to the next.
My inner valet!
Look at your sense of the fast lane. How many traffic jams are you caught in? Do you have a parking lot for your projects?
If you have kids, do you have the sense that there is no brake, that even down shifting seems impossible? I watch my daughter struggle with the feeling that her son dances between grabbing the steering wheel and dancing on the accelerator.
Maybe when it comes to your life, you need to get out of first gear, or you are caught on a track that just loops and loops, or you are running out of gas?
Use all these car metaphors and discover whats going on in your life. And share them in a comment, please.
One more for the road…
What if we each had a GPS system, where we could type in the destination of our destiny and suddenly a voice, divine or mechanical, would start leading us step-by-step. I can go for this. Actually, all the Imagine Self courses are a kind of GPS for self-awareness.
Hello Lynn,
I have read received your emails for a little less than a year. I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your work. Your metaphors are superb and have helped me to rethink my inner self. Thank you for this. With Love and Peace, Mark
I surpassed the ‘speed limit’ trying to read your traffic metaphors while being pressed to move on to my workday! Yes, I am in the fast lane, but not qualified for the HOV lane. I have so many projects – none of which are carefully parked in their properly-marked spot and all of which seem to be blowing their horn for my attention. I have flown home to Florida from France in mid-September – and still have large packages that were delivered but not yet opened and properly put away. I’ve got a major traffic jam – am now working in NYC and will return to Florida next week — after that, my domestic partner and I tentatively planned to take a tour of Florida – which would be relaxing if I didn’t have this traffic jam to tend to. One question — am I to understand that we who are taking the Imagine Self course should park that project until the new website is finished? Or should we continue on with audio lessons and journaling while you’re building the new site? Regardless of my mental / emotional “traffic conditions” my GPS feels correctly “on course” when I am connecting with you and your wonderful Imagine Self lessons– Happy Thoughts, Camille