“IF I HAD TIME”

Taranaki Daily News, 4 December 1926, Page 18

“IF I HAD TIME”

MAKE IT—3Y SAVING IT. (By Phyllis Monkman.). “Can't possibyl find time!” flow often do we hear this stupid remark? Here we are, in a world, running Hot with additional transport, labour-sas ing devices for the home, inventions which lighten all sorts of work—rand yet we i have no time! #> There are so many things to do; there is so much to see, and there is so little time in which ,to appreciate what we have done, or seen —so little time to think. One experience rushes on another, and we are left in a whirl at the end of the day. One of the best ways to find time is to eliminate waste of time; and one of the greatest wasters of time is wholly useless gossip. In this case, a “still tongue will make a wise head,’ and incidentally save quite a lot of time. It is necessary to keep a sharp eye on the minutes; the hours will look after themselves. Be careful never to waste a minute on non-essential things, and you will save a deal of time in. which to do things of importance. It is said that the busiest women have the most time. * This is true. Ask a busy woman to do a job, and it is done; ask a woman “who has not time’’and is always lamenting the shortness of the day, and it is not done! There is .another aspect of all this useless rush 5 this ceaseless craze to see this and that—mostly things of no importance. We are losing the power of discrimination, and anything is good enough so long as it fills, however unsatisfactorily, the passing moment. More serious still, we are . inducing what ■is loosely called in these days “nerves.” This complaint is caused by worry —the worry of trying to <lo a thousand and one unimportant things in time! From this worry springs the greatest enemy of the home—fear! Fear is born of failure to give ourselves time to appreciate the fundamentals of life. We have no time to sit down and think things out. Consequently we lose our grip upon ourselves; then comes ' the inevitable result—“nerves.” Someone will say: “So much to do; so little done.” Yes-, but it’s far better to do two things perfectly, than to meander about with a dozen and make a mess of the lot. The position is beautifully expressed j in these lines" : i If I had the time to find a place 1 And sit me down full face to face | With my better self, that cannot show In my daily life that rushes so: It might be then I would see my soul Was stumbling still towards the shining goal; I might be nerved by the thought sublime— If I had time!