Tag: Time

Part 3: Everything is Perfect, Right?

After nearly four years of high school, I can easily say that I have become an entirely new person. What I can’t easily say is that the path has been ideal. Through various unforeseen and underestimated challenges, hardships, and trials, we have been perfectly timed into being the people we are today. Though the daily process has been anything but heavenly, has the timing been divine?

Timing seems to be, at best, an elusive concept that always leaves us guessing on our path in life. But instead of devoting the time and energy into contemplating the “what if”, we should be focusing our energy at the “why now”. Is timing just a collision of random events that fall either inside or outside our favor? Or, could there possibly be more to the picture altogether? In truth, our life’s timing is not only purposeful, but is also flawlessly connected with the timing of the universe itself. Through both the incidental and purposeful events, our state of being has been shaped and sculpted by the infinite number of events that seem just too poignant to be coincidental. Dr. Deepak Chopra, author of Synchro Destiny, writes that “every time we experience these ‘coincidences’, we can dismiss them as random occurrences in a chaotic world, or we can recognize them for the potentially life-altering event it may prove to be.” By understanding that our timing is miraculous, rather than inconvenient, we can grow, transform, and thrive though our physical phase. Rather than being a victim of our time, we can use our timing to become even more of Who We Are and Who We Wish to Be.  

When we step back from our situation, we see just how all the pieces have synchronously come together to create our story. As Dr. Chopra further notes, we must go beyond simply seeing these synchronistic events in our lives after the fact. Rather, we should look to “develop an awareness of [synchronistic events] while they are happening…as awareness translates into energy. The more attention you give [synchronistic events], the more likely they are to appear, which means that you begin to gain greater and greater access to the messages being sent to you about the path and direction of your life.” Timing of events in our life act as signposts, giving us a precise location of Who We Are in this moment, and subtle directions on which way to take to act and think in oneness. But will we follow this inner compass? The choice is ours to make.

Viewing the world from the limited perspective of the body, we don’t know when, how, and why things happen. The ego cannot stand to judge our journey or another’s journey, for only the soul itself knows when it is right, when it is perfect. Good Timing is merely the seamless weaving of details into the fabric of the universe. Bad timing is only our perspective of the pattern, and is only transformed when we understand how it fits into the grander scheme of our journey. We are given challenges in our lives at precisely the right moment, no matter how inconvenient they seem. My journey has not led me into the perfect senior year, but rather towards the perfect state of being. Given the right, the right place, AND the right level of awareness, the path of life is perfect. Or, at least the timing is.

(Lauren is a Feature Editor of The Global Conversation. She lives in Wood Dale, IL, and can be reached at Lauren@TheGlobalConversation.com)

Part 2: Clockwatching 24/7

7:50. 8:51. 9:47. 10:43. 11:45. 1:15. 2:11. 3:07.

These may seem like arbitrary times, but for me, they hold a much deeper meaning. For these are the times that I always seem to be watching for, as they are the times my classes end. And if I’m not counting down the remaining hours of school, I am counting down the remaining days until Friday. Most high school students follow the exact same time-watching trend, but is it doing us a favor?

No matter it be in school, work, or anything else equally as monotonous, we all find ourselves constantly (consciously or unconsciously) clockwatching. We have become fixated on time itself – not because it is the unified pulse of the world, but rather it is something that needs to come to pass. The trend of clockwatching has not been a recent occurrence, but has served as a reminder of how very little time we are spending in the present moment. By choosing to be distracted by the hours upon the clock, our Old Cultural Story has us involved very passively in life. Instead of submersing ourselves in the present time, we wait and watch for it to be over. Virtually, the now moment has become so obscured by the distraction of future plans that we are fully disengaged.  

Psychologists, scientists, and even economists have now begun to recognize the negative results of the disengaged passive role that clockwatching has brought about. In the workplace, there appears the growing trend of ‘presenteeism’, in which employees show up for work, but are so unfocused and disengaged on the task at hand that they become anti-productive. In the article by management author Daniel Sitter, “Presenteeism: The Hidden Cost of Business”, the disengaged worker has cost businesses an average of $250 billion per year. Simply due to ‘life distractions’, nearly 75% of the workforce is not engaged in their work or their career. Literally, presenteeism suggests though we are being physically present, we are not being emotionally present or being spiritually present. In this state, we are absent from the present moment. If in business or if in life, we are losing out, and losing time.

So, can we be present in the present moment? We can, if we decide to engage ourselves – in our tasks and in life itself. One of the largest engagement campaigns occurring today is actually occurring at the high school level. The University of Indiana’s 2010 High School Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE) found that nearly  that nearly 82% of students wish to be more creative in the classroom, and that over 65% of students prefer “discussions with no clear answer”. Hmmm, students want to be challenged, want to expand their consciousness, and want to spend their time in school discovering (not being told) about Who They Are and What Is their World. We don’t desire to always clockwatch, but without the creative presence, interest starts to wane. High School students want to be engaged, we just need the environment where our engagement can thrive. If we choose to be a creative force, in the classroom or elsewhere, we can be far more than just the sum of our parts.  

In a single day, there are approximately 86,400 seconds. That means that there are 86,400 times in a day to enjoy life – instead of watching it pass by. Will you be passive, will you wait and watch? Or, will you engage, and create a reason for life in every single second? Make your choice. Time’s ticking.

(Lauren is a Feature Editor of The Global Conversation. She lives in Wood Dale, IL, and can be reached at Lauren@TheGlobalConversation.com)

Part 1: Straight or Something More?

As a teenager, there are many things in life that are very, very perplexing. Though responsibility, relationships, and identity are among some of the most confusing, the greatest conundrum for teens by far is the concept of time. Whether it be managing our time or passing our time, our entire understanding of “time” is very, very hazy.

In our cultural lexicon, we have many expressions to describe our usage of time that seem quite contradictory. We have to use our time wisely, so that we don’t run out of time later. If we are bored we are killing time, yet if we are in a rush we are running out of time. And if we are truly unbothered by anything else in the world, we are taking our time. With such different ideas on time, its usage, and its meaning, it’s no wonder that time remains one of the most baffling concepts for teens and adults to grasp today.  As this concept continues to puzzle even myself, it is truly time to create a series to clarify a few things about what time is, how it works, and what we still don’t understand.

So, what exactly is time? The friend? The enemy? The frenemy? Or anything at all?

Throughout the ages, science, religion, and philosophy have attempted numerous explanations of time. In our Western society, the most prevalent time theory is ‘linear perspective’. Based upon Isaac Newton’s theory of time as absolute, time is perceived as a point upon a straight line that moves only in a single direction. The concept of past, present, and future finds its roots in this ‘timeline’ movement, as the past and future are everything that is not directly that singular moment. Consequently, this has driven our society to be ‘time-centric’, and to live the philosophy of “live by the clock, die by the clock”.

So, despite our complex developments and achievements, our concept of time remains quite archaic. Simply, there must be more to this puzzle, or more gears in this clockwork. And there is. The man to prove this was none other than Albert Einstein. During his work with the Theory of Relativity, Einstein found out that time itself is relative, and not absolute. Within his findings, the perception of time was based upon the spatial reference frame of the observer (position), the speed that they are traveling, and oddly, time itself. From this concept, Einstein discovered that it is possible to have two people who are going different speeds to experience time as either going faster or slower, even though the same amount of time had passed. By understanding that space, motion, and time are all variables, an entirely new dimension had to be created, called the Space-Time Continuum. In this dimension, perspective influences time, and changes in perception lead to changes in time. Basically, with the concept of the fourth dimension, Einstein discovered that the past, the present, and the future all exist simultaneously. He even stated, “…for us physicists believe the separation between past, present, and future is only an illusion, although a convincing one.” Wow.

With this development, overlap is occurring with science and spirituality. As the New Age view of time is of the Ultimate Now, the existence of past, present, and future as one is becoming more and more recognized. As we acknowledge time being used simply as another perspective to understand our journey, it simply becomes a means of comparison. To understand Who We Are, we have to know Who We Were to have a vision of Who We Want to Be. Yet, at the same time, we know that we are all of these things at once. As Albert Einstein concluded, “The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.” Truly, time is one of the universe’s finest dichotomies.

Simply, our perspective of time must go beyond ‘the straight and narrow’. Though it may challenge every prior concept you have held about time, ponder over this different perspective. Trust me, it will be worth your time.  

(Lauren is a Feature Editor of The Global Conversation. She lives in Wood Dale, IL, and can be reached at Lauren@TheGlobalConversation.com)