A client recently recommended Buddhism for Mothers, by Sarah Napthali (2003). I haven’t read the whole thing, as I don’t have a lot of time to read, but what stood out was her observation of what mothers valued highly: Time. She wrote, the worst thing you can do is waste a mother’s time. I loved reading that validation of my sense of scarcity around time. Often I catch myself not breathing while I’m washing the dishes, making mental lists of all of the things I have to do. Robbing myself of being in the present moment, rushing to finish my tasks. Then I remember a teaching from a western Buddhist nun. She spoke on the Buddhist precept to not steal. She said that though she was never guilty of stealing possessions, she did steal time from herself by rushing and worrying that there was never enough time. There never is, if we think that way. I slow down and breathe and feel the warm water on my hands as I recall those words.