TIME

I went to a friend's house last weekend and met their 'korean' friend- actually a polish friend who had worked a lot in Korea. Anyway, it was 12 midnight and their antique clock sounded---'dong, dong, doonnng' twelve times. We commented on how loud the clock was...then their friend, Grzegorz told me a story about a friend of his who knew a master craftsman watchmaker. This old master had access to an ancient book of watchmaking- allegedly, the 'bible' of watchmakers. In this old book of wisdom, it was told that when an old handmade watch stops working, even if you remake all the parts and put them back together again in exactly the same way as before, the watch will not work again if the soul of the watch has died. I thought it was a touching and intriguing story to regard objects as having souls. Somehow my mind went to another story I read a few Christmases ago- it may have been in the Economist. It was about violin makers and how each violin had it's own character and it's own 'voice' because of so many tiny but significant variables in everything and every step that contribute to the birth of a hand-crafted violin. As winter makes it's presence felt, I can feel my own energetic return from without to within. As my outwith attention comes home, I reach for two books on my desk- 'A Hidden Wholeness'- The Journey Toward An Undivided Life by Parker J Palmer and 'Sounds, Feelings, Thoughts' by Wislawa Szymborska. Turning their soft covers, it's like coming home to old friends- and I know, in my heart, I know- it is TIME to give space to my soul.