Our society has become so fast-paced that we now find ourselves in a situation similar to the gasoline crisis some years ago, only now instead of oil, the culprit is time. How much of your life is given over to and directed by an artificially imposed scheduling device - the clock? And how much of that schedule is in direct conflict with your own natural rhythm and cycles? We have alarms to get us up in the morning; we have a certain time when we go to bed at night; we work at prearranged hours, and we play at prearranged hours.
Time has become extremely significant to our daily lives, even though it is merely a concept which we can neither see, hear, touch, taste or smell. The dictionary defines it as "a non-spatial continuum in which events occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future." This continuum - this something that goes on and on - is in fact not a thing at all. It is merely a way for us to measure our experiences on this Earth. Yet, we seem to focus more on the measurement itself than on what we are actually doing while we are here. In our modern society, time has become a commodity. We buy it, and we sell it. We speak of time incessantly. We have too much of it, or not enough of it. We take time and we give time. We make time, we waste time, and we spend it, all in an attempt to control or manipulate our perception of it. Maybe our obsession with time is our feeble attempt at trying to understand life - a way of marking our achievements and our failures. We know our sogourn here is limited, and we don't want to waste any opportunities. But with so much of our focus directed at attempting to keep up with our schedules, we end up missing opportunities presented to us that may help us lead more fulfilling lives.
Advances in technology, more than anything else, can be held to blame for the dilemma we now find ourselves in. Artificial lighting, environmentally controlled buildings and instant global communications have gradually increased society's expectation of us. We can now spend more hours being productive in the marketplace, often at the expense of our own personal needs. Technology has given us a longer list of things to do, but it cannot increase the hours in each day. Because of our tight time constraints, many of our lives are so completely ruled by the clock that we are unwilling to make a move unless it is on a predetermined schedule of some sort. The result is a self-imposed prison, where the hands of the clock have become the bars of our cell. We can stay in our time prison, or we can change our focus and begin attempting to identify and reclaim our own natural rhythms.
Each of us has a unique, innate rhythm that determines the rise and fall of our energy level throughout the day. We also have weekly, monthly and yearly cycles that not only affect our energy levels, but our moods, our creativity, and our productivity. There are many factors that determine these cycles - the time and place of our birth, the planetary configurations present at that time, and the configurations existing at the present moment. Other factors that affect these cycles include the climate and the environmental conditions where we live, the food we eat, and the cultural influences which surround us; nevertheless, the predominant factors affecting us are the unseen planetary, solar and lunar cycles that trigger our personal energy cycles and determine the rhythms most natural to our particular bodies.
It is important to become aware of our natural rhythms, so that whenever possible we can reduce any conflict they might have with our productivity schedules. Fortunately, we have been preprogrammed with an internal time clock that was established from the moment of our birth, and Earth herself - with all of her many cycles and seasons - has further ingrained a sense of our natural rhythm within us. It's not so much that we have to learn how to develop a natural rhythm, but more that we must unlearn the restrictions we've placed on ourselves through our reliance on the clock for scheduling every waking moment.
For starters, notice what is going on in Nature - the great timekeeper. We have just recently passed the Spring Equinox, an astronomical event of such importance that ancient societies built giant stone monuments to indicate the exact moment of its occurrence. It is at this time that the darkness of winter passes, and the lengths of day and night become equal all across the globe. Here in the northern hemisphere, the current Equinox signals the beginning of spring. Now, the days will begin to lengthen and become warmer, as the sunlight overtakes the darkness. At this time, Earth beckons us to come outside, shake off the winter doldrums, and enjoy the pleasant weather. It is a time to be more physically active by taking part in outside activities like gardening, going for walks, or just feeling the sunshine. In this way, we can begin to reprogram our internal clocks to a rhythm that is more natural to us. Getting up with the sun and going for an early morning walk before we have to be on with our duties and responsibilities is a healthful way to start the day; and too, such a practice begins to reestablish our natural rhythms.
In order for society to function, a certain amount of our waking hours must be dictated by time constraints. However, when we are not forced to be on a strict schedule, we should do whatever we can to avoid being ruled by time. Instead, develop a different kind of relationship with it - play with it. Our experience of time can be altered according to our state of mind. We have all experienced instances where time seems to be flying by, and others where it just seems to drag on and on and on. Usually our perception of time is based on how we are feeling about whatever it is we are doing. Every once in a while, when you feel life is moving too fast, slow it down - slow down your perception of time - by trying this experiment:
Allow yourself to become totally present, wherever you are. Expand your consciousness, as if it were a bubble moving our from deep inside of you; imagine it growing larger and larger, taking in all that is around you. Become aware of the tiniest sounds and the smallest images in your sphere of consciousness; feel the movements of air currents, changes in temperature, even notice the quality of the light. See yourself placed within your tiny universe, and then gradually begin to expand your sphere, larger and larger, until it includes the whole planet and beyond, to the heavens above. Become aware of your-self in the midst of all that is around you, and see your - self connected to all of creation. Allow that feeling of Oneness to permeate your being.
Afterwards, you will find that - at least temporarily - your perception of time has changed. You will not feel so pressured, and it will suddenly feel as if you have more time.
There are many ways to excape the pull of time. When I feel overwhelmed with too much to do and not enough time in which to do it, I get anxious and begin to lose my focus. When that happens, I'm unable to do anything except worry about how much I have to do. As soon as I become aware of what's going on, I just stop everything and take a deep breath. I know that the stress I'm feeling is not coming from what I'm doing at the moment, but rather from my projected perception of the future - of all the other things I haven't even gotten to yet. It's like being on a fast-forward mode of anxiety. Once I push the rewind button, back up, bring myself to the present, and slow down, I can then project my attention to the one thing I have to do at the moment, quickly complete it, and move on. I find that I waste more time and develop more stress for myself by thinking about everything on my list than if I just concentrate on the chore at hand.
All of us feel the pressures of not enough time in our society, but one group that is in a constant time crisis these days is the working parents of young children. There are never enough hours in the day to complete all that they have to do, and there are always some things that have to be let go. And always, there is the feeling of not spending enough time with the children. Having spent many years as a single parent raising four young daughters, I have definitely experienced that feeling. Yet, it is the quality of time spent, not the quantity, that is most important. Quality time doesn't have anything to do with what you are doing with your children; it has more to do with how you are doing it. The best thing you can do for your children is to be truly present for them whenever you are spending time with them. It means really listening to them when they are talking to you. It means giving them your total attention and not thinking about all the other things you need to get done. Most of all, it means letting them know how muchyou love and appreciate them, just as they are. When you give yourself fully to your children in the present moment, they will feel your total connection to them and know that they are loved. As a parent, that is the single, most important thing you can do for them.
Keep in mind that time only exists for us in the physical reality, and most of our insights and spiritual guidance come from outside of time and space. They come in our dreams, and in our meditations. They come in the space between our thoughts. Instead of allowing yourself to succumb to a crisis to time, use whatever situation is at hand to get to places beyond time. When we have to do certain things that could be considered boring and repititious - tasks that might annoy us or cause us to feel pressed for time because we resent doing them and would rather be doing something more interesting - our normal way of approaching them might be to try to hurry through them with as little thought as possible, just to get them out of the way. Yet there are ways to approach such chores that can actually be beneficial for us. Instead of rushing through them, we can focus our full attention on what we are doing at that moment, creating a mini-meditation for ourselves.
Consider something as simple as sweeping the floor, mowing the grass, or even making copies at the copy machine. The constant rhythmic movements, if done with our complete attention, can alter our perception, and open the doors to a place where time does not exist. While we are completing our task, we let another part of our consciousness come in contact with the higher, spiritual part of ourselves. These altered states may last for only a few moments, but insights do not require a specified amount of time to come into your consciousness - given the opportunity, they will come to you. Full-blown ideas and impressions that might take hours to write down can enter your conscious mind in the blink of an eye.
I recommend using these mini-meditations whenever you have the opportunity to do so. If you have a problem that needs solving, or a decision to make, welcome the thought into your mind and then allow it to move with you beyond time, into your spiritual center. All at the same time, you will have taken a mundane task, transcended it into something sacred, and completed the job as well. Instead of watching the clock and rushing through your chores, you will learn to reach inside and retrieve some very creative solutions, or come up with new and exciting ideas to move you further along on your life's path.
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