This piece of wisdom actually comes from my mother.  When we were children and something was planned for the future, we inevitably started wishing for the date to come faster.  This occurred repeatedly as holidays, vacations, and special events approached.  The calendar pages could not flip fast enough as the promised event approached with molasses-like slowness.

I am not sure at what point in my career that the calendar pages started flipping ever faster.  I just know that as I look at a calendar today in August of 2010, I wonder where the time has gone.  It seems that it was only yesterday that the New Year was celebrated.

As a project manager, I always found myself wanting to slow the clock down so that the implementation date did not appear to be on a collision course with all the work that still needed to be done.  However, like an on-rushing train, very little slows a project in high gear.  There is always more to do in the time available.

Then the date passes.  After that implementation passes, it seems as if all life has rushed past, not just that particular project.  It is hard to look back and realize that you, the project manager, needed to be exactly there, doing what you were trained to do, and succeeding in the endeavor.

As you rise in the morning, realize that your place in time and space today is exactly where you are.  Neither wish your life or experiences away in search of a more perfect experience, nor give up your hopes and aspirations.  For as you find that perfect place in space and time, so it will pass and the next experience will be on the horizon rushing toward you.

The last lines of Verse 71* of the Tao reflect this notion of presence.

"And every place in this world
     is the perfect place to be"

*Tao Te Ching, The Definitive Edition, Lao Tzu with Translation and Commentary by Jonathan Star, Jeremy P Tarcher/Penguin, 2001, page 84