I wanted to continue with reflections on time with you and look at time as art. Ask some questions and start reflecting on what time is. 

What is time? According to Rupert Spira, a non-dual Advaita teacher of yoga, time is a construction created by the mind to operate in this physical realm. When we step outside of time, eternity exists. There is no such thing as time outside of this physical reality. 

Let’s use an example: when you go to bed at night and you sleep for 8 hours and wake up, do you experience time? Do you experience the passing of time? Or is it like you spent two minutes sleeping–? It feels like that. Like time does not exist when we’re in deep sleep. Doesn’t feel like hours of boredom, or hours of exciting dreaming, it actually is like no time exists.

Yet when we awaken, immediately the construction of our physical world comes into place and time exists. We look at the clock beside our bed: what time is it? How much time do I have to get ready to get to work? What time do I need to be in class or at work? And all of a sudden time takes precedence over our lives. 

So what I wonder as I reflect with you on this, is: how do we live between and no time and time? Many philosophers and artists speak about this, and you will understand this when we are immersed in an activity, where our passion and our focus is so concentrated time disappears. 

Psychologists refer to this as flow. We get into a flow. And there’s an ease with flow. I spoke about this in a previous podcast, about flow, and my experience of it. And strangely enough, flow occurs for me when I’m highly structured in my time management. So when I sit down to do an activity, or have a plan of activities—  say for the morning—  I structure the morning and break it down into blocks of time with goals. 

So when I look at my clock I start, and I focus on the activity given for that period of time. And strangely enough, I think there’s a power in this. There is a power in what I refer to as ‘the power of intention setting.’ When I do this, I actually complete all of the activities within the time frame that I sketched out. It’s like a ‘Eureka!’ It’s like a miracle; how did this happen? What realm am I operating in when I do this? It’s like no time exists.

And then after a period when it’s completed I realize I’ve essentially accomplished everything in my day within half a day. So I leave you with this question: how can you stretch your time so that you are moving into a place of one, flow, and two, productivity. And then three— I suspect there’s an element of surrender, relaxation, that occurs here.

So those are a few questions, a few thoughts, about time, and a strategy of how you can create more flow, more ease in your day, managing time.

Thank you. This is Alexandra from Enlightened Learning. Namaste.