Time is fixed and rigid -
every day of the year has 24 hours and all hours have 60 minutes. And so it
goes.
However, as humans, the handling
of these minutes and hours, those days and years, seconds and decades, is quite
flexible and so the feeling that time gives us is also flexible. Who has not
been in a 45-minute class that lasted 2 hours (in their head)? Or in a nice
place, with this special person, a whole day that passed by in an hour?
But when we look at the
times in which we live, with news that come 24 hours and changes that a few
decades ago would take a decade to happen and today happen in a few months (or
less), this inner flexibility traps us in the invisible hourglass that the
human being uses to measure productivity, goals and life in general.
It's time to rethink how
we handle time. There are several ideas that are in the air - perhaps the one
that seems most interesting to me is the post-work society, that is, work as we
know is disappearing; This implies that the time of many people that revolves
around a closed space called office,
is already changing.
Perhaps the main consequence
is the level of stress, so it is necessary to remember time management is a
matter of awareness. Thus, by working with that, we can soften the effects of
the crazy rhythm that today makes us run and run, without reaching anywhere in
the way you can say that’s it.
When it is said that class
lasted a long time, it is that the consciousness was not aligned with the
necessity of the moment: the student forgot about the importance of what she or
he was receiving and was probably aware of other personal needs such as
playing, working or being with his friends. That lack of alignment made time feels
longer than in reality.
So, if you need to enjoy
something you normally wouldn’t, detachment
will give you exactly the experience, because you just observe it as if you
were watching a movie in which there are scenes you don’t like, but they are important
for the whole context. Detachment helps you to be present.
So, by aligning
consciousness with reality, by immersing yourself in what is happening – as in
the case of that last day close to an interesting person – time accelerates. But
there are situations we don’t want to happen fast as enjoyment may be associated to longer moments. The solution is to go deep, leaving the superficiality
the situations provide. In this way, one hour will feel like one hour, or even
more.
Last thing: if you want
to avoid the pain of that moment, love will help. The consciousness of love
will make time fly. You do not need to have love for what is happening... The
simple act of unconditional love, of forgiving who causes you harm and wishing them
the best will cause something unpleasant to be experienced as if it was
positive. And fast.
Therefore, awareness is
the key for handling time as we know and as we feel. Try it…
