86,400 And Counting

On the way to a recipe, I took a turn down a path I have not traveled in many years. Came upon a book about Paleo foods and the “paleo lifestyle”. Oh my! Talk about getting my attention. We, the book “Paleo 101”, and I, took a nice tour. You can find it on Amazon and it is fascinating, even if you aren’t interested in “how it used to be”.

How it used to be? Yeah, back in the hippie days. This book helps the vegan live a healthy lifestyle and ensures proper nutrition, according to the book. My fascination was roused with two sections; a. 86,400 and b. Mind-body awareness. Don’t run away…I once taught/facilitated groups for self-awareness and development of a positive mental attitude. Today we call that “Torah Study”.

One of the modules I facilitated focused on making each moment count. In the book, Paleo 101, the 86,400 framework was explained. Very simple; each day we are given 86,400 seconds to spend as we like. If we do not use all the seconds, when the day ends we lose the left-over. Another day comes and we are given a fresh set of seconds. In the book, we are not told where the seconds come from, if they will come at all or when they may just suddenly cease. We just pretend it is like a direct deposit bank account. Therefore, and I know you have already figured this out, we are encouraged to make every second in our lives count. Not for ourselves, but for others.

In Torah, we learn almost the same thing; except, we learn that our Creator grants us the seconds. We also become aware that we have no control over the next heart beat. The modules that I used ‘in the day’ were close to the same as from the book. The difference was, although I could not at that time invoke Scripture, it was implied. To have this thought come alive, we would use a Big Ben wind-up alarm clock. As the clock ticked loudly, the goal was to focus on the silence between the ticks. You might want to give it a try. When you experience the sound of silence, it is phenomenal. 

 

This may just make sense in a bit. 

Another topic Paleo 101 focused on was “Mind-body awareness”. I won’t detail their take. It was close but again far from Scripture. The basics of mind-body awareness are to learn to focus on what is happening in your physical self and from that gain insight into your spiritual self. This can be very involved so I will short-cut a lot and hope it simplifies and does not disturb anyone. 

 

A simple approach is to bring attention to your heart beat. Get in sync with it mentally. Contemplate the time it takes for a pulse of blood to go from the heart to the big toe. We’re stretching this now so don’t give up on me please. Let’s say, theoretically, it takes 28 seconds, more or less, and so we time from the next beat and track the flow through the body. You are now in contact with your physical self. Now, with the ability to focus on the silence and the ability to focus on the life-flow (the blood flow), we can spiritually connect with our Creator through our “self”. He created us! 

 

Altogether, imagine what all takes place within our “self” within a single space of the silence – between the heart beats! Go ahead, take your time and experience being within your “self”. Listen for the silence while hearing your Father’s Creation. We are a wonderfully and beautifully. There is no doubt in my mind that our Creator wants us to know all about us.

I believe He wants us to come in contact with our “self” as a first step in coming in contact with Him.

HarvestMag http://harvestmag.com/ on its Facebook posting the other day, presented an info graphic stating “Be authentic. The real you is the best you”. The posting is supported in part by the following statement: “We're bombarded by plastic messages, hypocrisy, and people hiding their true selves from others. We are called to be real, genuine, and authentic in our relationships with both Yahweh and others.”

I agree with the posting. There comes a time when we need to wake up and realize that our lives easily become controlled by the environment we live in. If you believe in Teshuvah (Hebrew for return or repent), then you must also believe in order to ‘return’ you had to have already been there at least once. We can lose track of our “self”. Our heavenly Father wants us to come to him fully aware of who we are and where we came from. The more we know about our “self” the more equipped we are to serve the Father. There may be times when we must just sit and be with our “self”. In doing so, we invite our Father in. 

 

There are only 86,400 seconds in a day – let’s not waste them. May our Father be with us and we with Him. 

 

Heavenly Father please continue to guide us and help us on our journey back to You. Thank You for removing the scales from our eyes, in Y’shua’s mighty name, Amein!…..

Romans 12:2, 9, Hebrews 4:13, Philippians 4:8,9

P.S. What recipe was I headed for before all this unfolded? Glad you asked: Paleo Pizza -awesome. Let me not fail to encourage each of you to visit HarvestMag.com or go to their Facebook page. Great insight for young people of all ages – I know, I go there!

Love you all, 

Pinchas, 

a/k/a Frankly speaking all the time