About Time
Time is a funny thing, sometimes it seems to stretch out endlessly, like when I'm holding a very uncomfortable posture in yoga! And other times it seems to fly by — a 20 minute meditation can feel like a few mins, or the reverse!! I remember someone saying about parenthood that the days can seem endless and yet the years flash by.
I have been noticing some beliefs and values I have around time and how they play out in my life. The idea that there isn't enough time, the not liking to waste time. I notice I plan to leave just enough time to get somewhere so that I don't waste time and hopefully don't waste someone else's time. And in the minutes before leaving I try to fit extra things in — Oh I'll just write that email / tidy up that corner. And then invariably I leave a couple of minutes late and have to rush.
Rushing feels very unpleasant (particularly if you like to be on time!) and it becomes more difficult to enjoy what I'm doing — walking or cycling or on the bus or whatever, because the worry keeps coming up about being late. When I tune into this in the body it doesn't feel pleasant, tight and constricted, tension in the face and the shoulders and no sense of ease or lightness.
So recently I've been, more of the time at least, leaving early having a leisurely journey, feeling my feet on the ground, the breeze against the skin, seeing the enormity of sky and the earth and enjoying it and remembering that I will never get everything done, as there is always something else that could be done.
Why not consider what your relationship is with time? Are you allowing yourself enough time to enjoy the journey of life? Are you spending time on what is most important to you?
And when you are late and the time is upon you, see if you can find a breath to breathe into that tension and let it go, let the muscles relax and release and enjoy walking fast or running or just smile at the pickle that you are in. Tomorrow or next week or next year it will be a distant memory.
“In this moment, there is plenty of time. In this moment, you are precisely as you should be. In this moment, there is infinite possibility.”
Time for me to go and get ready for class this evening — I don't want to be rushing :-)
Amrit Jiwan xx