There is only one thing worse than having our wishes not come true, that is, our wishes are realised. And, one of the wishes many of us have is, to live a long life.

Ask most people actually living way too long and they will tell you of the agonising misery of their existence. 'To the many, time it simply does not seem to pass'.

It is not only the elderly or the retired individual, but also those who have much in excess. Be it money, influence, status, and power in excess that suffer from this malaise. This malady particularly afflicts groups like the idle rich who have obtained their wealth, power, status etc. with little or no effort, the lazy individual, many a government bureaucrat or university professor etc. because they are cursed by the availability of an excess of time on hand and nowhere, no one and nothing to spend it on.

The human mind by its very nature, refuses to be still, and so many of us keep on looking for ways to 'kill time'. In reality we are not killing time, rather time is killing us'.

The most effective punishment for misbehaviour be it a child or an adult, is not a scolding or even a physical assault of some kind. The most dreadful reprimand, is to simply keep the person idle without giving them an outlet for their mental energy. This is why people kept in solitary confinement in prisons, homes, office cubicles, hospitals, etc. or abandoned in a relatively short time become unhinged and sometimes even insane.

Time is infinite, but for us it is perishable. If we do not realise the moment, it will be lost and cannot be regained. That is why the Buddha says,

"There is no difference between an age and a moment. A moment when known becomes an age. An age if it can't be known perishes like a moment."

Meaning one should live with awareness. Anything pursued with awareness and sincerity will lead to realisation and yield results. Successful and happy people have not tried to kill time, they have used their time purposefully. This means using one's natural or acquired gifts, be it beauty, wealth, power, influence etc. with principle, acquiring wealth by earning it, progressing with compassion, learning in silence and living in awareness.

If we do not want time to kill us then we have to remember,

Movement is good for the body, whilst stillness is good for the mind and together they are good for the spirit.