Time

What was it that Einstein said about time? While I don’t recall the exact words, but it was basically that time is an illusion.

I woke up last night around 2am and within the first minute, I looked at my watch which tracks my sleep patterns, and it said that I slept for roughly 3.5 hours. This caused a stress reaction of course, thinking it was imperative that I get back to sleep so I can function today. My mind wasn’t having it, it started thinking about why the watch doesn’t count the 3 hours I laid in bed prior to falling asleep. It might not be sleep, but it was restful. Then, the thinking started to continue.

There were many years that I didn’t wear a watch; I kept no electronics in my bedroom including a clock. Ever since the Marines, I have had difficulty sleeping but without it being tracked or concerns with time, I would just get up and do whatever. If I still felt sleepy in a bit, I would lay back down, I always woke up when the appropriate time frame arrived.

I found that wearing a watch gave me excuses to delay what I was doing, allowing procrastination and then rushing to meet deadlines so I can move on the next thing that I already felt behind on. We fixate on time! Without a watch, I was never late, more productive, and felt I had much more time. I wear it now to track my steps, track my activities, track my sleep, and so on. WHY? There is no reason to really track my sleep anymore, it’s a little late in life to really think it’s going to suddenly change. It’s been the same way for decades. I could easily put it on when I go to the gym to track HR zones and intensity. I will admit, I do like the step feature and a couple other things, but I hate constantly checking the time!

Back to Einstein, time really is an illusion. The only time we should concern ourselves with is the present moment. Right now, I am only focusing on typing this with no concerns of how long it takes me. What am I going to do when I finish? I don’t know. Maybe have my morning Mud/Wtr, maybe drink another water instead, maybe get ready for the gym, maybe go get some Vitamin D at the tanning salon. I don’t have an agenda. The only thing I have planned is to attend a Veteran event with a friend visiting a nursing home. All of things mentioned above, I have plenty of time to complete before going to that, and if I don’t do them, I won’t lose any sleep over it. So, here I am in the present.

The present represents you. While you sit here reading this, another has read it in the past, and more will read it in the future. People could be reading in other time zones, so how can time be universal when it’s so different for everyone at any given moment. The way it’s experienced at every moment is unique to them as well. That brings us to perception, but that is a tangent I won’t get into now.

The only time you don’t enough is when you focus on the wrong things. So, stop and just be present with your self right now and enjoy taking it in. The moment is gone in an instant.