You know how time speeds up when you’re doing something you love and slows to a crawl when you’re suffering? That’s a matter of perspective. It’s also how you allocate your conscious resources. This minute. This one. And again, even this one, make up a series of minutes called NOW. Already passed, yes, but…
The minutes can seem to stretch in front of us with no end in sight. At sixty-something the minutes appear to become shorter. Years, or months like the one that just sped by, seem to flicker by more quickly. It’s important to stop and smell the moment. Even if you’re not having fun, where your mind goes is up to you. The monkey mind may run you in circles blowing off “bored” and “tired” vibes. Your active and conscious mind can find purchase in the moment, in the now, the *OM* of the moment.
That went a different direction than I planned. Each minute is sacred. Pay attention.
No.
Being alone again will give you firsthand knowledge of the now and the minutes in between now and then. And the next now. Worrying about future nows is also not a very good use of your pile of minutes. So, if you don’t bum out about the past and you don’t catastrophize about the future, what are you supposed to think about in all these luscious minutes?
Lamb.
A lamba.
Ding dong.
A few more moments devoured. How is your experience of time right now? Is it long and slow or fleeting and awkward? No matter, time is fixed. Our place in it, also fixed. What we have is our insight. Too many of us are obsessed and obligated by our phones. What seems like a harmless game, a stupid habit, or a growing debt bill that arrives in packages weekly… Whatever it is you’re doing with all your spare minutes, please consider changing your ways.
Back to zen. Contemplation of the contemplation. Bonus points if you’ve studied martial arts. Here’s what you want to do. Breathe. In. And then out. Just think about that. Good vibes in, bad vibes out. It’s like magic. Time will expand out in ways you can’t imagine. Think about nothing. Go. Okay, wanna try again? Go. Okay. That’s enough for today.
Self-talk should be positive in nature. “You’re doing good on your oral hygiene!” That’ll help you get up and brush your teeth. Looking yourself in the eye and saying, “You’re getting there.” Another great moral booster. I use them all the time.
I was wondering today if reading is like meditation. It takes attention. You’ve got to stay awake. You allow your mind to enter an altered state. If it takes, you hallucinate with the author the dream they are painting for you. For a moment or two your mind is organized and trained on something other than your life and/or your problems. Reading is also a huge waste of time, from a productivity stand point.
To read is to have the time to read. To make the time to read requires effort, planning, and the willingness to let go of all those activities and alerts coming from your phone. I’ve even experimented with shutting my phone down. I know.
What we’re losing touch with in our hyper-connected modern world is time. The value of each minute. If minutes are things to kill while waiting for your therapy appointment, and you’re killing them with the noise of social media or television, I’m going to offer a piece of advice for your peace of mind. Read. Turn off the phone and the television. Open a book. See if you can pull your mind back into the slowness of reading.
It takes time. It takes attention. You don’t have to worry about the breathing, it takes care of itself. And if you’re on a good journey, you’ll smile when you put it down and go to sleep, you’ll smile when you find another few minutes to read a bit more, and you’ll feel happy when it’s over, even if the ending is tragic and poetic. Whispers from a dead man or woman.
I think of Virginia Woolf’s The Waves. How was I able to dive in and read it, enjoy it? If something is challenging do you give up? What about the authors who are teasing your mind and your intelligence? Are you coming with me?
This minute you’ve spent with me means very little in the ocean of time. The stillness you experienced meandering with me along this odd path… Thank you. You’re welcome. Let’s do it again.
One reader to another, let’s meet again tomorrow night for the continuing saga.
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