All In Good Time

“Yesterday’s the past, tomorrow’s the future, but today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.”

~ Bil Keane

I have felt a sometimes unfailingly stringent and precise grip on my experience, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, alternating with a complete sense of ease and grace, knowing that all is happening perfectly and effortlessly. So which of these feelings is?true? Both feel so real?and present that it is sometimes difficult to discern the truth.?

Can you relate? Does your mind sometimes apply pressure that is not real to situations??Do you use time against yourself? Do you allow time to be an escape route from what is present in the here and now??

So all of this has me thinking about our relationship with time on this planet. How this illusion (as Einstein called it)?can bring a?sense of emergency?into any situation, sometimes leaving us absolutely certain there is not enough of anything, including ourselves. The idea of time is also the culprit in many instances of suffering, and then there is the way?we use the illusion of time to distract from what is present.?

Time is one of life's funny energies that have?the ability to place pressure on an otherwise lovely day. For instance, let's say that you are enjoying a morning hike with your beloved pup, and you have nothing else scheduled for the entire day. What we like to call a "day off." Imagine how spacious the hike feels, how the lack of a schedule heightens all of your senses. The bird's songs are?chirpier, the green grass more vibrant; you allow yourself to feel the sun's rays on your back and?the soft earth under your feet. Now imagine that same hike with a time constraint. Notice?the immediate pressure of having to be somewhere in the future adds to your experience. Your perspective may narrow, and your senses constrict as if to say, "If you allow yourself to experience?the fullness of this moment, it's going to cost you."?The bird's song fades a bit and may even sound urgent, the green grass dulls, and not only do your senses contract, but you also feel your curiosity, wonder, and even your physical body constrict,?letting you know that TIME is coming for you. YIKES!!?

Is time?truly the?thief, or is our unwillingness to be present with what is the true culprit? For example, the grief of a?relationship ending may have tentacles into anger and resentment of time spent?and regret about what time will not be spent in the future. But these thoughts often steal the present moment. What does the loss in the moment feel like? Can we bear to witness the feelings and?give ourselves the chance to see the beauty, or at least the rainbow? How many moments are we giving away with worry, regret, and anger? What if we bravely live in the moment of what feels like insurmountable sadness and loss? What might also be present at that moment that we are not engaging with? Is there perhaps a feeling of completeness and joy available that the anger of the past and regret of the future prevent us from experiencing? Are we missing the?gift of the moment??

Time can also be used as a way to keep an otherwise exhausted, overwhelmed person?marching into their life, day after day, with duty and diligence. In this way, it has become a subversive ally in our life, motivating us as if we are being chased by the fear of it running out on us.?

And then there's wasting time, Don't even get me started on this. Let me just say there is no such thing as wasting time. It is actually impossible to waste time. I know this is controversial, but even if you don't agree, being disgruntled about time that has passed is giving up this very moment, which is true suffering that can last for decades if we are not mindful.?

So if time is relative, then how do we relate to it in a way that brings freedom and joy?

Simply we spend our time mindfully, and we engage in life as it is at any given moment. We cherish the feeling of being gifted time and release the perspective of losing time. Below is a simple practice I use when time pressure is present.?

Time is not a thief. Time is the gift of life

Release the Pressure of Time

?

Ironically I find that this exercise takes awareness, patience, and a willingness to?experience your relationship with time over time.?

AWARENESS

• Begin by noticing how often you think or say, "I don't have time to do that," during your day.
• Notice how the statement feels and where you feel it,?in the body.
• Does it feel defensive, offensive, or neutral??
• Breathe

INQUIRY of?INTENTION

• Is it true that you do not have time??
• Is it possible you just don't want to do it??
• If you?don't want to, are you willing to do it??
• Why are you willing to do it?
• Take a moment to decide if you will do it or not.

INSPIRED ACTION

• Notice after your awareness and inquiry of?intention how your body feels.
• Rinse and?repeat throughout the day

To take this deeper, journal about your experience, and I also recommend starting with small things, like the sink full of dishes or throwing the ball for your pup.?

Often times when we stop using "I don't have time" as the excuse for all that we don't want to do and inquire into why it is that we don't want to do something, we find freedom from the pressure of time. WE may uncover that?we feel burdened by more than our fair share of the household chores when we think f doing the dishes or that playing with a dog is only allowed once our "work" is done, according to some code of living lent to us from our parents. Once we allow space for the inquiry, we have a good chance of seeing what is truly lurking within; we can let time off of the hook and once again experience it as not a threat but as a gift, and it's there is a bonus in that magically more time seems to appear.?

"The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper."?

~ W.B. Yeats.

In closing, I invite you to peer at time as a gift. A treasure that is always here and is very willing to exact our life out of it. A gift, showing us what is present, and yes, that sometimes causes discomfort as we discover hidden needs, wants, desires, and beliefs. But it is so worth the inquiry because it gives us our life back free from the bondage of time.

Upon a week of review, I can share that my current relationship with time is gently letting me know that there is a part of me that is beckoning to know itself in a new (or remembered) way. A part of me that actually knows what it feels like to feel no pressure (time or otherwise), a part of me that remembers what it is like to feel the freedom of living in a moment, complete with the trust that all needs can and will be met. A part that does not worry about what might come, knowing she has the wherewithal, support, and love to handle whatever it might be.

These types of discoveries are available when we slow down time when we feel the spaciousness, and when we stop perceiving life's gifts as anything other than purely supportive and relevant. When we are willing to look at the status quo of "I don't have time" right in the eye and ask, is that true? Only then may the little part of us that beckons forth peak around the corner and say hey, want to play??After reading this, you may wonder how a cultural norm, such as feeling a lack of time, can be a healing point. In response to these wondering and wanderings, I come to this; What if this sense of lack is actually a collective soul's call for healing and a deep desire by all human beings to be reacquainted with what is true and what is our truest nature? What if this gift of time pressure and discomfort, often labeled stress and anxiety, is really a roadmap to the realization that the present moment is to be lived and experienced and that it is the only thing that is relevant and true? Gently (and sometimes not so gently) nudging us back to the present moment where REAL life resides, the place where the pressure and illusion of time are absent, and where wonder, curiosity, and creativity are not only plentiful, they are more abundant than we can imagine. A place where true freedom is felt, and grace and ease come as naturally as the sunrise.

Imagine!

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