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" Y O U M U S T L E A R N T O
B E S T I L L
I N T H E M I D S T O F
A C T I V I T Y
A N D T O B E
V I B R A N T L Y A L I V E
I N R E P O S E "
Indira
Gandhi
" O U R L I F E I S
F R I T T E R E D A W A Y B Y
D E T A I L.
S I M P L I F Y , S I M P L I F Y "
Henry
David Thoreau
" L I F E I S S O S H O
R T ,
W E M U S T
M O V E
V E R Y
S L O W L Y "
Thai
proverb
" Y O U N E V E R F I N D
T I M E F O R
A N Y T H I N G .
Y O U M U S T
M A K E I T "
Charles
Buxton
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It is hard to hurry kids. Hurrying pulls them out of the present and
pushes them into a future that is of little concern to them. Conversely,
adults have to tear themselves away from the future in order to fully
experience and enjoy what is happening in the present moment.
I spent a summer afternoon at the park with my granddaughter Sullivan
when she was three. It was a beautiful day, one of those lazy, hazy
days of summer. She spent most of the time collecting pebbles and throwing
them in the pond . . . plunk, plunk, plunk. I was enlisted as her assistant
in finding pebbles and in supervising disposal.
I begin to bore myself with the activity and said to her that we should
go home soon. Completely ignored, I was. She was entirely engrossed
in her own experience while I was thinking about doing something else.
I had a flash of insight. I remembered how the summers of my youth seemed
to stretch out before me endlessly and now they are over before I know
it. I recognized the "time stands still" quality of the Sullivan's simple,
unhurried, total immersion in the pleasure of her experience. I recalled
playing with my trucks in the shaded grove of our farm all day long.
I decided to stop being bored and to enjoy collecting pebbles and tossing
them in the pond for as long as Sullivan did. I wanted to feel what
she was experiencing in order to re-claim what I had lost a long time
ago. I think it is called summer time.
It is time that is not measured by a clock.
We stopped to have an ice cream treat at the end of the afternoon. I
caught myself reminding Sullivan to eat it quickly before it melted.
She, of course, continued to lick away in an unhurried manner, fully
enjoying her ice cream and oblivious to the future event of my concern.
When melting inevitably became her present reality, she held up her
hands with a grin for me to see. In the meantime, I had quickly devoured
my "treat" and missed out on the melting.
"Time standing still" reflects the altered state of consciousness that
results from being fully present in the moment. The usual state is one
of being time bound and future focussed. Measurement of time by the
clock transforms it from a subjective, individual experience into an
objective standard for all to live by. Adults typically chase after
time into the future and impoverish the present. Children are more likely
to savour the present and let the future arrive. So that is where summer
has gone!
Granted, as adults, we have an expanding past and concerns for the future
that compete for space with our enjoyment of the present moment. It
does, however, easily become habitual where multi-tasking becomes a
way of life and even a source of pride instead of a utilitarian tool
to be used when necessary, with awareness and by choice.
We can also choose to give up the chase at least occasionally. It is
like a dog chasing a car. It never catches it, and if it did, what would
it do with it? What would you do if you ever caught up with time? Is
that when you would finally toss pebbles in the pond? I think I will
choose to start doing it right now. Summer is nearly over again.
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