It is interesting that of late several people during conversations have remarked that time is moving too fast. There seems to be a general feeling of – ‘I just don’t know how time has flown and where it is going.’ Silently, this feeling may be impacting us in more ways than we realise.

The issue is not that the physical measure of time has changed. It is just that our inner world of thoughts is constantly bombarded with messages and stimuli from the outside, giving us very little time to entirely digest and process things. And just as we deal with an issue, the next thing is fighting for our attention, and before we know it the day is over with the feeling that time has just flown past.

If we are constantly achieving and doing rather than taking a pause and just being with ourselves, we will grow externally but may well find ourselves lacking time and impoverished within. Just as food needs time to digest, and constant eating without a break can upset our system, so too, thoughts need time to be processed. Being always preoccupied without a silent break to process things can upset our inner system.

All of us have been through a lot in the recent past, but it’s time to internally shift gears as things get back to near normal. However, we may not realise it, but subconsciously anxiety may have become our default paradigm. A car needs to move in low gear when going uphill, but if we forget to change gears on a straight road, the engine will soon overheat causing a breakdown. If we don’t shift gears, worry will keep eating into our precious time.

We may not always love the things we have to do, some responsibilities come to us without our choosing. However, we can at least take out time to do some of the things we love. Being there for others is a wonderful thing, but not at the cost of not giving time to ourselves.

We sometimes feel that slowing down will set us back – on the contrary. Doing things mindfully one at a time, and doing them well gives us a better result than rushing through life without fully experiencing the essence of what we are doing. We can try to swallow a lot, or chew and relish each bite – we know which meal is more satisfying.

When time seems to be slipping by too fast, we may not have been able to express it, but in effect, we are living with not making enough time ‘for’ ourselves and ‘with’ ourselves. The external world will always pull us craving attention, the inner world will always pull us craving time for silence and reflection.

We can happily achieve both if we are ever mindful and we learn to hasten slowly and live life one day at a time.

(Today is the 600^th reflection. Thank you for your love and support. I would appreciate your thoughts, suggestions and advice)