The Time the Hodja Gave Away

In one tale, the Hodja sells a customer 'time'—then realizes time cannot be bought or sold. His wisdom reveals that we suffer not from time's shortage but from our belief that we can own or control it. Sunrise and sunset practice, conducted with Hodja-consciousness, inverts this belief. Rather than using these moments to optimize your relationship with time—tracking hours, setting schedules—you practice radical surrender to time's flow. The sun rises without your permission; it sets without consulting your agenda. By aligning your attention with these non-negotiable events, you're practicing what the Hodja understood: time is already given, already flowing, not a resource to manage but a reality to inhabit. This doesn't mean abandoning schedules but rather maintaining a playful irony about them. You keep your calendar while knowing it's ultimately fiction. Sunrise and sunset become daily reminders of what cannot be captured, teaching the examined life's deepest lesson: freedom emerges from surrendering false control.