The ticking of the clock
Time is a tough concept for the human brain to comprehend. We manage to live a century, at best, on a planet that has been around for billions of years. In the grand scheme of it all, the amount of time we spend here is almost irrelevant when you look at it from scale. However, during the meagre amounts of time people have spent here — they have managed to rewrite history. Rivers have been made to change directions, civilizations have been wiped out, discoveries have been made and new lands have been explored by mankind- all within the tiny, short frame of time that he has had here. How has this been made possible ? How is it that we, as individuals, can make such things possible in our own lives?
To begin with, we start with the work our ancestors have done. Those studying physics today do not start with figuring out the basics of gravity, but rather, climb on the shoulders of intellectual giants like Newton to have an edge. Similarly, most software developers deploying software that has a profound impact in the lives of people barely know how computers came into being or how the vast network of the internet came to existence. We start where others left off. We end, and then our successor takes over.
Additionally, it matters how much we make of the time we have. While time is a resource we all have access to, learning how to optimally utilize it is something we rarely do. The crucial lesson of optimal time management is rarely taught in schools or colleges, where schedules are pre-made and given to students to follow like sheep in a herd.
A key technique used off-late to make the best of one’s time is mindfulness. It states optimally experiencing everything in life to its depth and being in the moment. It is routinely noticed that individuals are unable to acquire their full potential due to their inability to seize the moment and make the best of it. They drift away to the future or are worried about what has happened in the past. By focusing on the present, we are able to analyze what was done wrong in the past, envision a better future and work towards its realization all at the same time.
The grim reaper comes for all of us. Death is that blanket of darkness that spreads across all of us at the end of our lives. What we have between the time we attain conscience as a baby to the day we lose at the cradle of old age or a mishap, is an opportunity to make our time here count. We can either resonate with the universe and make the lives of people better, or contribute to everything that ruins it. We can leave a legacy for future generations to look up to, or be another irrelevant person that followed the rules and died like everyone else. The choice is with us and with each tick of the clock, we make that choice.
What choice are you making with your time today?
- Joel John
