Maybe it’s because we enter a new year with a count-down. Or maybe we are all so goal focused at this time year that we find counting reassuring towards marking our progress. Whatever it is, all the counting is starting to drive me crazy. Count the calories on your plate, the number of vegetables eaten per day, the number of meatless meals consumed per week, the miles your food has traveled to your local grocery store, the minutes it takes to inhale your breakfast…

Outside of feeding yourself, feel free to count your time in cardiovascular exercise, thoughtful meditation, or holding that yoga pose that promises more energy; count minutes your child – reads per day, spends in ‘time out’, or brushes their teeth; count your money, blessings, or grievances; count the number of words written per day, loads of laundry washed, or how many days until the kids go back to school.

I’ve stopped wearing a watch recently but the world screams at every corner what time it is – my phone, my computer, my children, my dog are always telling me it’s time to do something. Can I be on time without all of the counting? Can my counting be more along the lines of “how much do I love thee…” than counting the number of glasses of water I have consumed today? Feeling free from the burden of this counting assures me that the hours I have spent watching season 1 of Glee on DVD surely is not a problem.

I mean who’s counting?