Time Constructs & Illusions
This episode highlights the illusion of time, the physics and science behind it, and how ancient civilizations started tracking it. We will talk about time anxiety, an all-too-common obsession about spending your time in the most meaningful way possible and how we, as humans, mentally and emotionally track time with something called episodic memory. I’ll also provide you with 3 easy-to-apply steps to learn to live in the “now” and reduce ties to time, PLUS enjoy a bonus meditation focused on energetic elements, which you can use to unlock your potential and be more mindful and abundant every single day.
// Introduction:
We live in a world where time is wildly important and can be extremely crippling. Nanoseconds mark the difference between success or failure to make an electronic transaction. Every day, we are continuously reminded of “the time”: of being early or late, of having missed an appointment or arriving “before set time”. In today’s world, time governs our lives.
In his bestseller, A brief history of time, physicist Stephen Hawking reminded us that: “The increase of disorder is what distinguishes the past from the future, giving a direction to time.”
There is no (factual) evidence that we can move backwards in time or that “time tourists” from the future are with us… even though I do sort of want to believe in sci-fi theories and time travel...But the arrow of “time” does carry us forward, and humans have measured this time through the ages in different ways.
But just consider this for a second with me:
TIME may not be not real, or real as we know it at least. In my humble opinion, I think that time is a human construct to help us differentiate between now and our perception of the past, an equally astonishing and baffling theory.
// Method to Manifesting 101:
Time anxiety is the fear of wasting your time. It’s an obsession about spending your time in the most meaningful way possible. And when society tells us—or when we interpret signs from society as saying—that it’s too late to achieve a particular goal, we don’t perceive it as meaningful enough. We need—we demand—that what we do with our lives actually matters.
Time anxiety can take a few forms:
Current Time Anxiety: the daily feeling of being rushed that makes us feel overwhelmed and panicky. Some people also experience anxiety attacks because of the day-to-day stress caused by this type of time anxiety.
Future Time Anxiety: thoughts about what may or may not happen in the future, which are the cause of worry and “what if” types of internal questions.
Existential Time Anxiety: the sense of lost time slipping away and never to return, which many people experience in a more acute way when thinking about death.
While finding our purpose in life is an important factor in the psychology of happiness, spending too much mental energy on finding it rather than doing things that make us happy can be anxiety-inducing. Here are three steps from Anne Cunff that I love, that you can take to reduce time anxiety while still finding meaning in your day-to-day life:
1. Define what “time well spent” means to you: Sit down, and think about what really makes you happy and gets you in the flow, without overthinking about how feasible the final outcome would be. Just think of your output and how it makes you feel to work on producing it. For example, don’t think about how happy it would make you to publish a blog. Ask yourself if you really enjoy writing. Don’t think about how proud you would be to run a marathon. Question whether you like running. Create a short list of activities you really enjoy and that brings value to yourself or to the world. And think about what “value” means to you, while you’re at it...
2. Make space for these moments: This does not mean making time for them. Instead, think of where you will incorporate these moments into your life. Maybe on your way to work. Maybe at home, after the kids are asleep. Or maybe spending time with your kids is the activity you want to make space for. If you happen to have less time than expected, that’s totally fine. It’s more about designing a space dedicated to your “time well spent” activities. As the prolific writer Maria Edgeworth said, “If we take care of the moments, the years will take care of themselves.” So there ya go, it’s not about how much “time” you can allocate toward something, it’s just giving yourself some time, AKA space, to do that something.
3. Cut out time-consuming distractions: The moments we spend mindlessly scrolling on social media or watching random videos or fear-mongering news contributes to time anxiety. Do a quick audit of your content consumption patterns and try to cut out the amount of time you spend in an input mode rather than output mode.
// Ancient Ancestors:
So where did all of this time tracking stuff start, and why are we still using it, and ruling our lives with it today? What is time and why does time flow? Is it just an illusion? Why do we think of a week in 7 days instead of like, 15. If there were names that spanned 15 days, could we think of time in a different way…? We’re pretty tied to our weeks, and what each day of the week means and feels like to us.
Turns out, our 24-hour day comes from the ancient Egyptians who divided day-time into 10 hours. They measured with devices like shadow clocks, and added a twilight hour at the beginning and end of the day.
Night-time was divided in 12 hours, based on the observations of stars. The Egyptians had a system of 36 star groups called 'decans' — chosen so that on any night one decan rose 40 minutes after the previous one.
The subdivision of hours and minutes into 60 comes from the ancient Babylonians who had an affinity for using numbers to the base of 60. We have retained not only hours and minutes divided into 60 from the Babylonians, but also their division of a circle into 360 parts or degrees.
The ancient Chinese used a dual time system where they divided the day into 12 so-called, 'double hours', originally with the middle of the first double hour being at midnight.
The Mayans, known for being one of the most technologically advanced civilizations of their time, inhabited the regions of Central America and southern Mexico. Their most notable achievement was their intricate system of time, which consisted of three calendars. These calendars were known as the Long Year, Tzolk'in and the Solar Year.
- The Long Year calendar was used to measure long periods of time and is responsible for the 2012 predictions.
- The Tzolk’in which means “the distribution of the days,” is also called the Divine Calendar and the Sacred Round. It was used to determine the time of religious and ceremonial events.
- The Solar Year is the calendar that most closely resembles our Gregorian calendar that we use today:
Which is based off of an actual tropical solar year, aka time it takes Earth to orbit the Sun, which is about 365.24219 days on average. Like what?! We count our lives by years. We measure our age and wrinkles and accomplishments by this, and it’s really just the timespan of the beautiful natural phenomenon of earth's orbit. Why are we taking all of it so seriously?!
To keep track of time, the Maya observed and recorded the yearly cycles of the Sun; including the times of equinoxes, solstices, and the zenith & nadir passages. Sunlight and shadows, as well as the position of the Sun during sunrise and sunset, are recorded in the architecture of the magnificent pyramids, palaces, and other structures of ancient Maya cities to this day. These special times of the year were celebrated with massive ceremony in ancient times.
// Four Elements Bonus Meditation
Allow this practice to provide a different lens for you to examine the body.
Give yourself space to drop in and deeply investigate the elements in your body.
Bring an open mind, and see what you can learn about yourself.
Remember that mindfulness is about seeing clearly, and looking at things from a new
perspective can often bring clarity.
Settle into a relaxed position.
Close your eyes, and bring your awareness to the places in the body where you are currently experiencing contact -- your feet on the floor, your hands in your lap, or your body’s sit-bone on the chair or floor.
Begin with the element of earth. This is the solid form.
Without thinking too hard about what this means, openly examine where and how you can
feel solidity.
This might be the structure of your skeleton, the chair you’re sitting on, any places of tension in
the body, or the weight of your muscles as they relax.
Don’t rush through these sensations or try to force them.
When you feel the earth element in the body, stay with it for a few deep breaths.
Inhaling and exhaling deeply for you to connect to your solid state.
Continue this seeking, recognizing, and feeling for a few breaths.
Good. Inhale and exhale. Inhale and exhale.
Now, we will switch to the element of air.
Focus on the air entering your body in the form of the breathing.
Where can you feel the air of the breath?
Do you feel this in your mouth? Your throat, your lung cavity, or your stomach?
Look for the air in places where it enters the body.
Look for the wind within where you can feel empty space—
the nostrils, the mouth, and the ears, the mind.
Allow the air inside of your body to create space.
Imagine the air you feel encompassing your body, making you light as a feather.
The air lifts you and your mind higher than it’s ever felt before.
You feel free, light, and happy.
Inhale here. And exhale.
Continue with a few breaths on your own, enjoying the lightness of the air enveloping your body.
Now let’s shift your awareness to the water element.
Tune in to any sense of liquidity you can feel.
There may be moisture in the eyes, saliva in the mouth, or sweat on the body—
Maybe you can feel the flexibility of your muscles, the flow of your breath in and out, the sounds of the stomach, or even the pulsing of your blood.
Allow the fluid to flow in and around you.
Allow your thoughts to flow like water moving through you.
If a busying thought comes in, imagine it flowing away from you, down a river it goes.
Continue to sit by the flowing river of your mind.
Peacefully watching as thoughts, feelings, emotions or past situations flow by, allowing you to sit presently in the power of the now moment.
Inhale, swallowing the saliva in your mouth, recognizing that you are an earthly energetic element with water moving and flowing through you at all times.
Exhale out, picturing the blood flowing through your veins and keeping your beautiful heart beating.
Inhale, and exhale.
Next, let’s bring your attention to heat or fire in your body.
Perhaps it’s the temperature of the air touching your skin, or certain spots on the body that are
warmer or cooler than others.
Remember that temperature can be internal or external.
Heat can feel safe and warm, releasing any negative connection to a fiery feeling.
Now Imagine a ball of positive, abundant, light-heat inside of your stomach.
Allow this light to radiate out of your body.
Imagine the perfectly-temperatured heated ball of light shining out from you.
This light shines out onto others and the world from your inner being all at times.
Feel the heat of the light shining onto you, and the loving warmth it carries with it as others feel your positive light.
Inhale light. Exhale light.
Inhale, and exhale.
Go ahead and spend a few moments in awareness of the body as a whole. Collectively work together and aligning to the earth, the universe and the present moment.
As you breathe, feel the four elements working together to support and fuel your body.
Remember you have the power to release constructs that exist only in our minds.
Release the notion of time. Release the hold you may have previously had with the concept of time.
Allow yourself to feel and feel free in the present moment of your life. Ldt your resting thoughts fall back to your breath. Allow yourself to ambrance the mantra, “I am here, now.”
I am here… now. I am here, now.
Beautiful work. Slowly start to wiggle your fingers and your toes.
Allow your breath to go a little deeper now as you move your body around and regain a sense of your surroundings.
Blink your eyes open, and thank yourself for opening your mind to think differently today about the present moment and time as we know it.
As always, thank you for reading along, listening to, sharing, and subscribing, and don’t forget to stay Mindful & Divine.
x.shana
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Questions? Want to Work Together or Discuss a Future Project? Email shana@mindfuldivine.com