Mana is also about being aware
of the true value of your time.
I truly believe that we adults should read children's books more often. Alongside the books of Astrid Lindgren, Momo by Michael Ende has become one of my new favorites.
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Momo
and her friends, who cherish their imagination and the simple joy of playing, come face to face with the Grey Men. They are not truly human; they exist only because people have brought them into being. Living off the time of others, they grow ever more powerful as people hurry through life and surrender the freedom to shape their own time.
Momo is a master of listening, and everyone loves her for it.
For she takes her time.
Momo has enough time, and she never wants anyone to take that away from her.
While on Tenerife, I picked up this book again. As a child, I had put it aside rather quickly—I found it somewhat boring back then.
But at the start of this journey, it spoke directly to the questions I was carrying…
They are about stopping time—if only I could do that! I felt as though time would never be enough for what had brought me to Tenerife.
How can one slow down time? And is it even possible?
When we feel as though time is slipping through our fingers, we can surely change something about it. “The slower, the faster!” the turtle of Master Hora would repeat, guiding Momo at fateful moments so that she would be safe and protected.
No longer rushing, no longer hurrying—this has been a way of life that has accompanied me for some time. I first felt it with particular clarity in the moments when my mother was dying.
I knew I could not stop death. And I would most likely not arrive in time.
And suddenly, all this rushing around felt entirely meaningless. I promised myself I would no longer rush anywhere (except into the mountains—back then, trail running was a great passion of mine, when the Allgäu was still my home).
Since then, my life has been slowing down little by little. But it took time.
Learning not to rush in everyday life takes time. Like all habits, it rarely changes overnight. Yet the realization itself came suddenly, back then.
In fact, even when I first “learned to relax” (during further training as a psychologist) and was supposed to practice Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR), I freely admit that at first I found it rather silly—simply boring.
Yet I am just as fascinated by something as I am by foreign countries, and that is the fabric of everyday habits. Each day is like a small life that shapes our larger one.
So I began practicing PMR—and to my surprise, I noticed something unexpected by the second or third day already!
Back then, I was deeply involved in supporting my family. First, I got through the household chores much more quickly. And yet it felt as though I had taken far longer, because I was doing everything with so much calm.
In a sense, I had “invested” time in practicing PMR in the mornings—and paradoxically, I even gained time rather than lost it.
Where this path of slowing down will lead me, I cannot yet say. But I do know this: I do not feel that I am missing out on anything. Instead, I see all the more clearly how much is rushing around me.
Even if we go slowly, we will arrive in the end.
For perhaps we have already arrived when we learn to move very slowly. In the end, we are with ourselves when we keep stepping back inwardly—or aren’t we?
Where, truly, are we running or hurrying to?
Of course, we can move in alignment with our heart. When we truly listen, the heart continually offers us impulses about where the path is leading. We remain in motion—but not blindly, rather guided. .
That is also what makes life so joyful—walking one’s own, authentic path. It is something truly beautiful. I find myself, honestly, grateful for everything around me that is not rushing, not chasing, not on guard, not running away. Here, one can simply be as one is.
Time holds many secrets for us, secrets we can learn to hear. Perhaps it reveals something essential about life—something closely tied to the question of meaning. Does it not bring great meaning simply to have time? From the heart, as so beautifully written in Momo. Then, I already have so much.