Finding Your Own Tempo

Finding Your Own Tempo, written by yours truly, Jim Gaven, is about finding your own tempo in life. Leading your own life instead of following in someone else's footsteps takes faith, hope, and courage, and 'Finding Your Own Tempo' sheds some light on ways to do that, specifically through faith, music, and exercise, particularly, soccer. Designed to inspire others to take action to live the life they so desire and be more at peace with themselves, I hope to light a fire under you, the reader.

In an effort to provide an excerpt from the book but not give the whole thing away, here is some of the first chapter for your viewing pleasure. I felt it necessary to dig deep into the various ways of keeping time in history to show how far it's come since its inception.

Chapter 1: Tempo and Quantified Time

"The word tempo has 2 definitions:

1) The speed at which a passage of music is or should be played.

2) The rate or speed of motion or activity; pace.

It’s no wonder why life sometimes feels like it’s moving a million miles a minute, and other times, eke’ing by at a snail’s pace. Life has a tempo to it, and the majority of human beings listen to music to either inspire them, mellow them out, or make them feel good. Isn’t that what life is all about--Working hard to inspire people, finding time for yourself to take it easy and enjoy the world around you, and, as a result of this, makes you feel good? Whether we consciously realize it or not, we all live our lives in a tempo that is either set for us or, if we’re lucky enough, we set ourselves. Take the clock, for instance, which keeps us honest about attending meetings, sporting events, dinner, and has a constant metronome beat of 60 bpm (beats per minute). It is our connection to a man-made object which exists to ensure we are consistent with living life and ‘making the most of our day’, but is it on our terms? Or, is it on the terms of the ‘clock’? It makes me wonder why the human race spends so much time worried about time, because once we die, there is no concept of it.

To fully grasp man’s desire to quantify ‘time’, you have to trace the concept of timekeeping back to its origins to show all the transformations. In chronological order, from earliest to most recent:

Sundial-3500 BC

The first sundials were built by the Egyptians and the Babylonians. These particular ones date as far back as 5,000 BC. However, the first purpose-built sundial was not constructed until 800 BC.

The obelisks built by the Egyptians and the Babylonians used the position of the shadow of the sun to estimate what time of day it was. These early sundials were typically built from a green schist and were inscribed with six different time divisions. The direction of the shadow gives an approximation of what time it was.

Mathematician and Astronomer Theodosius of Bithynia (ca. 160 BC-ca. 100 BC) is said to have invented the first universal sundial that could be used anywhere on Earth."

To read the book in its entirety of 172 pages, you can do so by purchasing it here:

https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/jim-gaven/finding-your-own-tempo/paperback/product-1v4d5pww.html

If you'd rather listen to an audio version of the book, you can do so by downloading the book here:

https://jimgaven.bandcamp.com/album/finding-your-own-tempo

Thank you for your support! Feel free to share this page with anyone whom you feel might be interested or benefit from expanding their horizons as it pertains to living out a dream rather than just thinking about one.