This post is dedicated to my friend and former colleague, Christina Cheang.

Image by ToniVC via Flickr

I was in a fancy Chinese restaurant in the Lion City, sitting across from Christina C., a dynamo of a woman and the new Singapore leader of our international public relations agency.  We were deep in conversation as the waiter filled our cups with Puér tea and served us plates of steamed sea bass and herbal black chicken.

I was wrapping up a two-week business trip.  My life in San Francisco seemed so far away.  Well, literally 8,500 miles away.  Yet my mind was a whirlwind of thoughts, twirling about everything I needed to do before I left, and everything that awaited me when I return.

“How am I going to find the time to do everything?”  I said as I wolfed down the sea bass and emptied the tea cup.  “Within the next week, I’ll be making five presentations.  Two here, and three back in San Francisco.”

Christina looked at me through her stern, maternal eyes.

“Slow down, Sharon.  Don’t you know that time is elastic?”

“Time is elastic?  What do you mean?”  I rested my chopsticks, momentarily.

“Well, you and I think that we only have 24 hours a day.  But have you ever been so engrossed in something that you lose track of time?”

“Well, yes.”  My eyebrows arched higher as I leaned toward her.

“Have you ever felt like hours have passed, when in fact, it had only been minutes?”

I nodded.

“You see, when you are inspired to act on something, you will always find the time and energy to dive into what you’re meant to do.  And when you get ‘in the flow,’ time becomes elastic.”

Inspired, I returned to my hotel room that night and whipped together a powerpoint presentation in under an hour, pleasantly surprising myself.  I experienced first hand the meaning of “time is elastic.”

Christina C. taught me an invaluable concept, and I have often reflected on those three simple words since our memorable dinner almost two years ago.

Tonight, I saw the Michael Jackson movie “This Is It” for the first time.  Those around me lamented that it was such a shame that he died so young.

Then, suddenly, the three words, “time is elastic” popped to mind.  I started thinking about his lasting impact on music, and on the millions of people around the world.

The “King of Pop” may have passed on, but his music will live on in our hearts and minds for a long, long time.  Michael Jackson has forever outlived his 50 years and succeeded in stretching time to its maximum elasticity.

I could almost see Christina’s smile as I pen this today.

“Great, you get it now.  Time is elastic, grasshopper.”

This poem is dedicated to my wonderful friend, Leslie Shen, who taught me how to take time out to “smell the roses.”

Simply Time for Me

Simply time for me,

Simply time to be.

Time to take a walk and deeply breathe,

Time to calm the mind and hear the rustling leaves,

Time to slow the heart,

Say “bye bye” harried day.

Simply time for me,

Simply time to be.

Time for curious eyes to feast on nature’s gems,

Like the sun’s gentle rays kissing the rippling lake.

Hark, the water glistens and glows, and it says to me,

“You are always welcome here!”

Simply time for me,

Simply time to be.

Time to lift the face toward the heavenly skies,

Time to stretch the arms upwards, in sweet surrender and in trust.

Time to pause, to open the heart,

to let the evening’s rays bathe my grateful being,

From head to toe, from inside and out…

Sweet joy it is, to delight in simple pleasures, in nature, in life.

It is simply time, simply time to heed,

That happiness is to simply be…

Right here, right now.

~ Sharon Sim-Krause