The title of the book authored by Per Petterson, "I Curse the River of Time" is an appropriate indication of how many people feel they are slaves of time. Time is actually a very elastic thing. Psychologically, the experience is usually that time flies when we're having fun, and it slows when we’re bored.

In the physical world, time flows differently for two observers depending on how the two are moving relative to each other, and if they are experiencing different strengths of the gravitational force. We don't see this in our everyday life but it is measurable and it appears to be built into the fabric of the universe. 

This one moment, Now, is eternal, not because it stretches out to past infinity and future infinity but because it is timeless. There is no time, or, said in another way; time is Now. It has nothing to do with the time displayed on the watch or clock we use. We take possession of time, we personalize it; we make it ours.

The inner dialogue concerning time is often very intense, especially when we think we don't have enough of it, and the body experiences stress because of the belief we don't have enough time.

My teacher reckons the mind is like a Ninja (and not always a very adept Ninja) who only has one weapon: Time. To lose our awareness of The Silence in this Moment we have to identify with a thought, feeling or sensation and these invariably have a component of time. It may seem that it's about money, or a relationship, or something else but at the core of it there's always the notion of time in the form of past or future thoughts.

We actually don't have to figure out how to deal with time, we just put all our awareness on the stillest part of the experience Now; while we're planning our holiday, while I'm typing this, while you're reading this.

Here's a quote from Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein:

"Death is not an event in life: we do not live to experience death. If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present. Our life has no end in the way in which our visual field has no limits."

If we procrastinate about an essential activity for our well-being, such as meditating, we often find our mind, out of habit, believes there is a shortage of time - things that are more important need doing before time runs out. Very seldom has this anything to do with "clock time", it almost always has to do with "psychological time"; in other words an idea of the time "I" have at my disposal and what "I" need to do with that time. As we let go of the dialogue about time, and re-engage in the present moment; there is only Silence and time disappears. Time is just an illusion. In the end, time is just a useful tool for organizing our life.

I invite you play with noticing when your thoughts pull you into the past, or drag you into the future.  See how your awareness of the present moment expands as you actively play with staying right here, in the fullness of this moment - the only moment that exists.                                                                                

                                                                                                                                Sally (c) Sally Lewis

About the author

I currently live in Castle Hill, after 20 years in business in Wellington. After achieving many things in my life and living a very comfortable exsistence, I found I still wasn't experiencing true Inner peace and contentment. I wanted to know what life was all about - who I truly was. Nowspace Meditation has given me the techniques to do this. I now experience a rich and fulfilling life and I have found that permanent Inner peace and contentment I was searching for, no matter what is happening around me. I now wish to guide others to that experience within themselves.