Stepping out of Time

"Time is but a stream I go a -fishing in," wrote Henry David Thoreau. Time is like an ever flowing river, just don't get caught up believing it's real.  In other words, don't take it so seriously. Have fun and enjoy life.  I hope the discussion below will help you step out of the constraints of time and into a more life of freedom.

Time can be used as a noun or a verb.  For example, you might say, "Your time was slow" - noun. Or, you can say, "I am going to time how fast you can run" - verb. Time is most often used as a noun, and because time is a concept it is often thought of as a fact.  You will hear people say, "I'm running out of time," "There never is enough time," "Time is money," "What time is it?" or "Time is short."  When the word time is used in this context it is as if time is a stationary event - a hard, cold fact. Because time is often viewed as a fact it is a limiting factor in our lives. The concept of time gets stuck in our heads and limits our ability to go beyond it and enjoy what is right in front of us.  We get stuck in the time factor and don't stop to smell the roses. 

It's time to eat.  It's time to go to sleep.  It's time to get up.  It's time to go to work.  How can you step out of the constraints of time and live a freer life?  It's not as difficult as you might think.  In fact, thinking is the problem, not the solution.  You can step out of the time factor by observing it rather than being caught up in it.  Look at yourself in the mirror and you will see a person who has aged over the years but yet the feeling you have of who you are has not changed. By being the observer and not using your memory, you will experience yourself as unchanging.  You are not affected by time because you are outside the context of time. 

If you look at yourself in a mirror you might remember a younger you while the present you is being reflected in the mirror.  By using a little imagination you can visualize what you will look like in the future - say ten or twenty years down the road.  If you can view yourself in the past, present, and future at the same time, you are experiencing a time continuum from the outside.  You have loosened the concept of time as a static limitation because you are on the outside looking in.

Being the observer of time (past, present, and future) puts you outside of time.  You are no longer caught up in its constraints.  You can do this exercise anytime and any where you choose.  Watch a thought as it passes through your mind.  Notice how and where the thought begins.  Notice its present situation and continue to watch it as it passes away.  By doing this you are no longer affected by the thought because you are outside of it. You are no longer locked in the experience and no longer the thought.  You have stepped outside of time as the observer.  If you are having a bout of anxiety, depression or some troubling thought you can always reflect on when it started, where it presently resides, and watch it come to an end.  Do this and you will become a freer person - free from time.

In the next blog I will discuss how you can go even further in your freedom.