“Time isn’t the primary factor. It’s the one factor.” ~Miles Davis
Once I first learn that quote, it hit me proper within the chest. Not as a result of it sounded profound—however as a result of it was one thing I had been slowly, painfully studying over the course of a really quiet, very lengthy yr.
Time used to really feel like a race. Or possibly a shadow. Or a trickster. Some days, it slipped by way of my fingers like water. Different days, it dragged me alongside like a heavy cart. However at all times, it was one thing exterior me—one thing I used to be chasing or attempting to flee.
I spent a lot of my life impatient. Not within the apparent, tapping-your-foot form of means, however within the quiet, inside form of means: the fixed sense that one thing must be occurring, or occurring sooner, or have already got occurred by now. I measured life by milestones—achievements, breakthroughs, arrivals. I informed myself I used to be being productive, however actually, I used to be simply uncomfortable with stillness.
The Turning Level: Time Isn’t Linear
Earlier than all this, I considered sound as one thing exterior—music, noise, dialog. However Nada Yoga remodeled that understanding. Within the stillness of these lengthy days, sound turned an anchor. Even the hum of the heater or the ticking of the clock turned companions. Once I gave them my full consideration, they stopped being background noise and have become a part of the current second.
That is once I started to grasp that point isn’t as linear as I had at all times believed. The previous and future have been concepts taking part in out in my thoughts, however the sound of now—the tone, the breath, the refined vibration in my chest—was plain. And each time I tuned into it, I discovered myself grounded once more.
Physics agrees in unusual methods. Einstein referred to as time a “stubbornly persistent phantasm,” and within the language of relativity, time doesn’t cross in the best way we really feel it does. Some physicists imagine that the previous, current, and future all exist directly—that point isn’t a straight line, however extra like a panorama we transfer by way of. What we expertise as “now” relies on the place we’re standing, so to talk—our body of reference.
It’s not that point isn’t actual—it’s that our expertise of it’s formed by consideration, reminiscence, and motion.
This perception doesn’t make time really feel much less pressing, however it reframes it. If time is an phantasm, it could be much less about seconds ticking by and extra about consciousness itself. What we name “now” isn’t a slice between earlier than and after—it’s a discipline we enter by way of presence. That’s why mindfulness and Nada Yoga matter right here: they’re not simply strategies for coping—they’re methods of seeing.
Within the teachings of the Eightfold Path, this felt most related to Proper Mindfulness and Proper Focus. However as a substitute of striving to good these steps, I merely allowed sound to steer me there. Following the thread of vibration was a apply in presence. It didn’t matter what time the clock stated. The one actual second was the one I may hear, really feel, and meet with openness.
When Time Strikes Too Quick
Ultimately, I started to really feel higher. My physique regained power, and my considering was clearer. I began doing extra, respiratory extra slowly, strolling farther, planning. However with that return got here a special form of problem: the pace of life.
It’s unbelievable how shortly we will overlook stillness as soon as momentum kicks again in. Emails. Errands. The infinite listing of issues we should always’ve already executed. I used to be “again,” however I observed one thing curious—I missed the sluggish time. Not the discomfort, however the spaciousness. The simplicity. The depth I had found when life wasn’t asking me to maneuver so quick.
I attempted to carry onto what I’d realized. I’d remind myself that presence doesn’t have to be difficult—listening to a gentle drone or resting within the internal hum I may nonetheless really feel once I paid consideration. That tiny ritual turned a approach to soften the sides of my days. It jogged my memory that even when life is loud and quick, there may be nonetheless one thing quiet beneath, ready.
And as soon as once more, I turned to the Eightfold Path, this time to Proper Effort. Not effort as in battle, however the light self-discipline to return, to pay attention, to not overlook myself within the rush. Persistence, it seems, isn’t one thing you grasp as soon as and for all. It’s one thing you apply many times in small, quiet methods.
The Sound of Persistence
What stunned me most was realizing that persistence has a sound. It’s not at all times silence.
Generally, it’s the low hum of the fridge at midnight. Generally, it’s the regular beat of a distant drum in a chunk of music. Generally, it’s simply my very own breath or heartbeat or pulse, reminding me that I’m right here.
And presence has its personal rhythm too. The extra I tuned in, the extra I noticed how a lot time opens up once I cease resisting it. A couple of conscious minutes can really feel full and wealthy. A rushed hour can really feel like nothing in any respect.
We are saying “time flies” after we’re having fun with ourselves—however I’ve discovered one thing deeper: time expands after we’re totally current. Once I pay attention—actually pay attention—to what’s right here, I don’t really feel late. I don’t really feel behind. I really feel complete.
This doesn’t imply I’ve figured all of it out. I nonetheless lose persistence. I nonetheless verify the clock an excessive amount of. However now, I’ve a apply to return to—a apply constructed not on perfection, however on sound, breath, and the quiet belief that every part unfolds in its personal time.
The longer I stroll this path, the extra I see that my struggling round time wasn’t actually about minutes or hours. It was about resistance. It was in regards to the perception that the current second was by no means fairly sufficient. That I needed to get someplace, grow to be somebody, obtain one thing earlier than I may relaxation.
However by way of mindfulness, and particularly by way of the apply of listening—whether or not to the gentle whispering tones of the wind in Nada Yoga or to the peculiar sounds of every day life—I’ve found a gentler reality:
The current second isn’t one thing we earn. It’s one thing we enter.
And after we do, after we cease combating time and begin listening to it, we discover one thing surprising—not vacancy, however richness. Not ready, however arrival.
A Closing Reflection
There’s a gentle drone of reticulated sounds taking part in as I write this now. A deep tone that hardly shifts however one way or the other holds me regular. It jogs my memory to breathe. It jogs my memory to decelerate. It jogs my memory that I’m not behind—I’m right here.
I believe that’s the true present of each mindfulness and Nada Yoga. To not assist us “take advantage of our time,” however to assist us really feel time otherwise—not as a strain, however as a presence.
And so I depart you with this:
Subsequent time you really feel rushed or stressed, cease. Shut your eyes. Pay attention for the quietest sound within the room—or in you. It won’t be music, and even lovely, however will probably be actual. And in that sound, nevertheless small, you may discover a doorway to now.
And now, as Miles Davis stated, time is not only the primary factor—it’s the one factor.
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