In relating to other people, time can be an ally, if we use it right.
It’s more usual just to react to what happens in the present, transacting back and forth, hoping to make progress in the direction we want to go in, all in the here and now. We want to solve it this instant.
But as Abraham Lincoln says in the film, “Time has a way of thickening things.”
Sometimes it’s better to plant some seeds, or to train the vine a little, than go for the harvest straight off.
Or to move on from a problem, think of how things can be different tomorrow, next week, or next year. Imagine them solved now, and look back to the present. How significant (or not) do the issues seem from that distance?
As Lao Tzu wrote in the Tao Te Ching 2,500 years ago, “This too shall pass”. Nothing, but nothing, lasts forever.
How do you use time in your relationships?