You hear it all the time. You might even say it to your Self and to others:
“I don’t have time.”
This is then often accompanied by frantic explanations of busyness or the callous indifference of no explanation at all.
When it comes to understanding the concept of Time, I could go into the esoterica of physics but frankly, learning the science of Time doesn’t offer me much consolation for my coming to terms with impending death.
I would love to be unshakable in confidence to say that I have many more birthdays to celebrate, but, with age, I realize that nothing in Life is guaranteed.
Some of us see this perspective as a depressing one but death is a normal, natural cycle of Life. I use this uncertainty of the literal deadline as my most potent motivator.
I ask myself: “When I die, what will my gravestone say? What will people remember about me?”
For me, what’s more depressing than the thought of mortality is the thought of being forgotten — my existence being diminished to the thoughts and tears of loving, obligated parents, then forgotten as quickly as a dead worker ant among the world colony.
“Chris woke up, he ate food, he worked a job, he slept. Then he died.”
Entertaining this thought stirs up an overwhelming anxiety and I use this discomfort to fuel a relentless productivity. I could die next month, I could die tomorrow. I could die within this very minute.
Am I satisfied with what I spent my Life doing?
Holding death over my head allows me to persevere, rain or shine, but it’s not a sustainable mentality; I start feeling exhausted — still unfulfilled.
Living starts to feel like the biggest task to complete. A chore.
Feeling utterly burnt-out and caged by this punishment called Life, I was forced to re-evaluate everything that consisted of my Life. I had run out of excuses; there was nothing I could convince myself with any longer that this was the reality of Life.
I told myself I’d rather die.
Fortunately for you, there’s a way to eliminate the impatience of the grave.
You’re Not Being Self-ish Enough
It’s easy to get caught up with résumé-building in the hyper-productive culture we live in today. You want to have that dream job, you want to have plenty of money, you want to strive for something better. You want something new — this is human!
You understand that Time is an invaluable resource and that any level of greatness requires Time for self-reflection, dedication, and hard work. With dreams of greatness in mind and an unforgiving criteria of success for your Self, Time feels increasingly more scarce for opportunities — good or bad — that stray from your daily hustle.
Perhaps a more genuine reason for not having Time is simply a prioritizing of our Self. There’s nothing wrong with making decisions from the best interest of our Self — even if it means saying ‘no’ to another. It’s not selfish to be acting out of Self-interest.
Never give from the depths of your well but from your overflow” — Rumi
Time is just a Word
There really is no such thing as Time. It’s a mental construct we’ve created in our heads to plan our day, according to the ambitions we have. It plays an interesting paradox of being both relevant and completely irrelevant in Life.
Time is relevant to keeping a schedule and since our society operates on a strict one, we keep Time for the happenings of our Life — job, meetings, obligations.
And yet, Time is irrelevant to living Life. Because what importance does Time hold in living our Life when the only obligation we have to uphold in this Life is to our Self — to Life itself?
Take a look at any animal. They don’t keep timelines for their naps, they don’t schedule their wanders, they don’t worry about when or where their next meal will come. They fulfill their duties of survival without an iota of concern — at least with none that I can see.
Sure, they might not be capable (yet) or even curious about the same ambitions of us human animals, but animals teach us the wisdom of concerning our Self with only the present moment. They show us the value of being in the Here and Now.
From this perspective, you see that your past and future are nothing but figments of your imagination. They’re simply a collection of narratives that you’ve decided best paints the picture of Who You Are.
The world sees you through how you see your Self
Be Here with Us
The present moment is all there is and all there will ever be. When we grasp this Truth, we grasp control of our Life. We’re no longer a slave to Time. Instead, Time becomes a way to organize and plan according to our own wills.
When we grasp this Truth, we have nothing to fear; failure, success, not even death.
We’re blessed with the consciousness to set goals and ambitions for our Self. But when your goals and ambitions turn Time into the unyielding dictator of your Life, when you lose your Self in the urgency of your own ambitions, you forget your one true purpose in Life — to live!
Our Life is a gift — an opportunity — to create and recreate our Self anew according to how we would like to manifest our Self — to enjoy this playground where we can make real. This is Real-ity.
If you can overcome your fear of physical death, you no longer have anything to limit you anymore. You can do anything! Without overcoming this fear, you have subconsciously already chosen death — the death of your innermost Self — by choosing to live a prolonged Life of self-imposed limitations, which inevitably devolves into mediocrity.
I find it ironic how we choose not to live, in fear of preserving our Life. I wonder if this fearful living is living at all.
What would you do differently today, knowing that you have unlimited Time, that you cannot die?
Live Without Regrets
The present moment is all there is and all that will ever be. The past is an interpretation, the future is an illusion. This moment, now, is all that matters.
If we spend our whole Life regretting our past and worrying about the future, we forget to appreciate and enjoy the happenings of the present. The cool spring breeze, the petrichor of fresh rain, the fresh scent of roses, the tranquil glow of sunset — Love’s warm cuddle.
What power does death have over us if we can honestly admit to having lived Life fully, appreciating Life fully through our experience of it?
Even if today is an ordinary day without anything particular happening, we can enjoy the beauty of Life itself and take comfort in knowing that this Life is given to us to enjoy — to bring us joy.
What’s more tragic than thinking about the day you will inevitably pass away is choosing to watch Life pass you by instead; not having the memories, both good and bad, to make your Life memorable.
Are you really living Life?
Take back control of your Life by grabbing ahold of the reigns of Time.
Here and Now is all there is.
