RESETTING THE TIME

Each one of us at some point in time has desired for a time machine that can take us back in the past to either relive a moment or experience a particular moment entirely differently. However, my father often used to say - “You can never turn the time back—only forward’.

Paradoxical as it may seem, in couple of days, in many parts of the world, clocks and watches will be resetting time one hour earlier – people in such parts of the world will gain one extra hour, thereby having an opportunity to reset their actions and decisions, essentially adjusting back the time.

Remembering my father’s advice about adjusting the time, in order to set our watches to the daylight-saving phenomena, to go back one hour to rest the time, we actually have to move the hands forward 23 hours. The reason being that the mechanics of any watch is meant to move in the forward and not in the opposite direction. Time is always advancing.

And so, it is for all of us.

The past is just that—the past. While it’s good to reflect on the past to either learn from it and see the progress we have made for ourselves or at times not made the desired progress for ourselves…, it is meant to be only a brief pause to centre ourselves.

There is merit in the power of pause. As long as the pause enables us to have positive reflection and introspection….

In personal and professional life, there is great deal of risk in getting stuck in the past and assessing the present and the future through the lens of past experiences. After all, past performance or lack of one, does not guarantee future success or failure. At that moment, we can apply the lessons learned from the past to move forward to a better future.

As we reset our dials in couple of days to adjust and align the time, let us pause to free ourselves from our past and reset to embrace the present to its fullest.

Isn’t it mystical how the daylight saving coincides with the Indian festival of Dhanteras and Diwali where we prepare ourselves by cleaning our houses to ward off unnecessary clutter so that we are ready to welcome a prosperous present and a hope filled future!

Happy Dhanteras! Happy Diwali!