“To become free of the tyranny of time, become interested in the present. Even your difficulties can be better tended by staying here and now.” Jack Kornfield from No Time Like the Present
You know what the tyranny of time is about, right? Never having enough of it! It is the oppressive burden of always being under the gun and having to get things done…of having more to do and less time to do it.
The truth is that time is an illusion…it is deceptive. Time is a construct in our own mind. Sure, we order our day according to a set of hours and minutes…but we made up the rules and we decided to live by them. And it works for us. But time itself is not real at all. The only thing that is real…is now.
To be free from the tyranny of time we simply need to relax into the present moment. Everything happens from right here…nowhere to go, nowhere else to be. Pull your mind from the past and from the future, rest easily now and open your eyes.
Tending to what is in front of us is living in our great aliveness. At this very moment it may be the greatest challenge of your life or the greatest joy…or somewhere in between. Tend to it…gently and with great compassion and keen interest. Nurture this moment, feed it with your attention…you will never have one that is quite the same. Don’t shy away, shut it down or rush on by.
Notice how you feel when you bring your whole attention to the present moment. Just reading this short blog, pausing to sit and scroll, being reminded of what you already know. Now, look around you, notice a sensation in your body, see the room or the sky, hear the children, smell the air.
Ralph Waldo Emerson reminds us:
“The roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones, they are what they are. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose. It is perfect in every moment of existence.”
Here’s to tending the moment, always.
Much love,
Paula
