What is time? It’s something we can’t touch, see, or feel, yet it’s always occurring. In a specific sense, time can be measured from point A to point B -morning to night or fall to winter. But in a general sense, time is endless and can only be experienced through a state of change.
We created the concept of seconds, minutes, hours, and days in order to make sense of the boundlessness of time. It started by learning to map the stars and follow the sun’s pattern. Now it’s developed into the world we live in today where we depend and rely on time. What kind of world would it be if we didn’t know when to arrive at work, when an appointment was, or when our plane lands? Thus the only way we can successfully live in society is by following the concept of time.
Yet this concept of time is specific to our societal world and so we’ve neglected our personal sense of time. Our own time exists when we’re walking through the grocery store, driving our car, going for a run, or playing with our kids. It’s the moments when we have the choice to be fully engaged with whatever it is we’re doing. But for most of us it’s the time when our mind succumbs to the past and drifts to the future.
Our mind has trouble staying silent, so it dwells on past mistakes and creates alternate future scenarios. Thus it completely ignores the present moment -the “Now”. It’s not an easy task to quiet our minds. But, if we can stay focused on what we’re doing and give it our full attention, we’ll be closer to living in the “Now”.