The strange concept of time - it's just a relative reality

Einstein said that time is relative, it depends on our frame of reference how we experience time and that makes it so subjective. Even though we do have a set clock time in this world - which differs as well - time seems to run or stand still depending on what we experience. We have the year 2023 according to the Gregorian calendar and for many of us it seems like the last few years (or the last 20 years) just flew by. But why do we hold on so much to the concept of time? Why do we count the years and days? Do we constantly live in the future or the past? And why should we all be a bit less dependent on our clocks?

Clock time is a human made concept to make our lives easier and more organized. We know when to meet someone, when to go to work and when to finish it. If you live a common life you most likely depend on the time your clock says and create your life around it. Humans are part of nature and everything in nature undergoes different cycles. We have routines and traditions, we celebrate birthdays and count the years we have spent on this planet. Clock time doesn't only help to organize our lives it also takes away part of our freedom and stops us from living according to nature's cycles. Being dependent on time makes us forget to be present and to live in the now, it brings us further away from the natural timing of our own cycles.

Most people are stressed about time - it seems to be either too fast or too slow. They fear to reach a certain age or don't want the weekend to be over or hope that time goes by fast because they are somewhere they don't want to be. It also seems as if time goes by faster the older we get. As kids one summer seems endless and a year can feel like eternity. Children live more in the present and enjoy their time without thinking about the future or the past. Therefore their sense of time is very different, simply because it doesn't matter as much to them.

With the start of a new year many people make plans and have resolutions for the future and everyone hopes for the new year to be better than the last one. This mindset makes it difficult to be present and might put on pressure to reach a certain goal on time. For me it is clear that we have to slow down, we have to listen to our inner timing and to the divine timing. Yes, we cannot stop using clocks but we can start listening to our feeling when the time feels right. It doesn't matter if the calendar says yesterday started a new year, if you are still in one phase of your life that hasn't finished yet it doesn't matter what day it is. We don't have to start something new or improve ourselves constantly just because a new year started. We don't always move through one year cycles and we don't have to have new goals every year. It is possible that absolutely nothing will change in a year - of course also everything can change in a year - but that depends on where you personally are at the moment.

We have to finally realize that getting older is nothing negative and by living more in the present this is possible. Moving away from clock time towards your own divine timing will increase your intuition and you will know what feels right and what doesn't. Little things like eating when you are hungry but not because it is a certain time or going to bed when you are tired no matter if it is still early will connect you more to your body and your own rhythm. As much as we need clock time in this world it becomes more and more important to align with your unique timing and with nature's cycles.

Don't keep postponing something you want to do because you think in the future the timing is better. Also don't rush into something because you worry that you run out of time. One way to know whether you act out of love and intuition or out of stress and worry is by noticing your emotions about a situation. If something feels very urgent or worrying it is your mind creating the scenario. If you feel a calm Yes or No it is your intuition. You can have a 'bad' feeling about something but if it is your intuition telling you that, it won't feel extremely stressful or hasty.

Again, listen to yourself and you will feel when the time is right for something. Try not to live from weekend to weekend or summer to summer but be present and notice what is good right now. Create a life for yourself where you don't have to rush so much and where you don't depend too much on a calendar. It is possible to follow your own rhythm especially by becoming aware of your thoughts about past or future and if they make you worry. Mindfulness, best practiced with meditation, helps us to be in the Now. Let's take kids as role models and remember how beautiful it is to be so fully immersed in something that time doesn't matter anymore. In the end it is not important what time or year or even what day it is as long as it is time well spent. When we fill our time with the things we love we can look back and won't have regrets. We can also be excited or curious about the future but we should not be worried or remorseful about past or future. Past and future are just concepts made in our heads - they are either phantasies created by our thoughts or they are memories blurred by our emotions. The only time we have, that is real, is the present moment and it is always up to us how we fill it.