I've been musing on the funniness of time. You know how it is... sometimes time flies by, other time it drags both feet like leg weights! I've noticed that when I drive to somewhere that I havent' been before, let's say, from Calgary to Cremona, it seems to take forever! It's a new stretch of road, I have no idea what's around the corner or over the next rise, and the 45 minutes that it takes seem to drag on and on and on. But... when I'm coming back from Cremona, or driving out there again the next time, it doesn't feel like that at all!!! In fact, it feels a lot shorter! Now, this is not because I'm driving faster! Same speed, same amount of time... it just seems to go by a lot quicker... So, what's up with that???
I'm thinking it has something to do with our presence. When I'm driving that stretch for the first time, I am paying close attention, totally focused on the road, the fields, what's coming up. Everything is new and fresh and I'm present to it, drinking each moment in. When I'm driving back, or driving that stretch a second time, my attention is often elsewhere. I'm thinking about other things, what I'll have for dinner tonight, or what the weather's going to be like for the weekend, or how the visit went in Cremona. My attention, my presence is elsewhere... and as a result, time seems to speed up. I'm living in the future or in the past... but not in the present.
When we are present to the "now", living in the moment, time seems to slow down... When we are living in the past or the future, reliving the things that have happened, or imagining the things yet to come... we aren't present to the "now" and time gets away on us!
Or at least that is my musing on it at this moment in time! More coming tomorrow...
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