Time

Dear Friend,

As I was driving the mountains and valleys of the Canadian Rockies this week, I started to think about time.

Now in my life these days, time isn't much of a factor.  However, early tomorrow morning we will be dropping off our friend and companion-to-date at the Calgary, Alberta, airport for a long flight back home.

You see, she has a "regular" life, and that requires that she limit her time on our journey.  In truth, she has an elderly mother who wants and needs her at home.  And our friend is a willing source of comfort for her mom.

We will all miss our friend.  However, I must admit that I will not miss the looming deadline of her flight tomorrow.   After this, we have no agenda, and that suits me just fine.

One of the thoughts that I had while I was driving was how slow or fast time seems to pass, and why.  I came to the following conclusion:


Time passes to the degree that you are focused on the moment.  More focused on the moment?  Time moves slowly.  Unconscious?  Time passes instantaneously.  Walking around in a fog?  Time passes quickly.  If you want to slow time down in your life, you only need become aware of the moment.

It seemed like a rather simplistic conclusion, but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made to me.

It also opens an exciting possibility.  Perhaps we have the power to speed up or slow down how fast our life passes before us, simply by consciously choosing to focus or not focus on any particular moment in our life?

Life not going so good?  Just do what you have to do, but don't focus on it too closely unless you absolutely have to.  Want to spend more time with your kids?  Make sure that you are especially focused and conscious during those times that you are together.  Your life today may make it difficult to spend time doing the things you love.  Perhaps you can make up a bit for this by focusing your conscious thoughts during the moments that really matter.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Hugh