Everyday ethics: Making the most of our time

Can you run out of time?

As we near the end of one year and think about the next, perhaps it makes sense to think about where we are heading.

On your journey everyone runs out of time, sooner or later. You can’t run away from endings in your book of life. In fact, I would argue those who try to escape remain frustrated and usually unhappy.

But here’s the wisdom from the ages — those who accept that their time is going to run out cherish each moment they have as a gift.

When asked how best to live, the philosopher Socrates offered this often misunderstood guidance: Practice dying.

At first Socrates advice may seem depressing, but I think it’s just the opposite — it’s both joyful and wise, following the primary wisdom of the Greek oracle: “Know thyself”

If you know yourself you have fulfilled your purpose in living — to be all you can be and do.

I believe realizing time will run out makes you live a deeper and rich life, not wasting a moment.

There’s a corresponding wisdom for living: Begin with the end in mind. Find where you want to go before going. This is one of Dr. Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.”

Covey wrote about using time wisely thinking about the capabilities or endowments we have:  “Every human has four endowments — self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom … The power to choose, to respond, to change.”

May your old year be a time to reflect on the new year approaching, and may it be full of the power to choose to respond, to change.”

John C. Morgan is an author and former philosophy professor.