Arjun Khemani

2020 may well have been the most despised year of this generation, but somewhere, somehow, due to situational circumstances, many came across correspondingly relative thoughts when we went into the second half of 2020, “I can’t believe that half the year is over already”. And sometime when we went into the last quarter of the year, “This year is about to get over so soon! Time flies”. Sometimes, these feelings can really scare some. But rarely do these “I can’t believe the year is coming to an end” kind of surprises arise with revealing the real harsh truth behind them.

The real harsh truth behind them is that we didn’t do anything memorable during the time that seemed to have “flown by”. We didn’t experience anything new. We were just in the same environment for the entire year, doing the same things everyday, and there was nothing novel in the 24 hours in a day that we had as everyone else, everyday. And this is why we become amazed at the fact that it’s almost going to be the year 2022 anytime now. Why again? Because we don’t have anything to look back and recollect of. Nothing has changed in one whole year, no matter how much you don’t want to believe it, if you are one of those who think in terms with “time flies”. When life flows by inertia, we feel that time flies too.

The bright side (and thank God there’s a bright side!) is that life doesn’t have to flow by inertia. Not at all! You can be the force to guide it the way you please. There’s some real truth in the short lines of Michael Altshuler:

“The bad news is that time flies. The good news is that you’re the pilot.”

The best way to not feel as if time is running out without consciousness is to do something amazing everyday. That shouldn’t be that hard. I mean, then what’s life? Just do something new. It can be anything. For example: experience a new food, or take a new route to work. Or if you have “time” to be able to feel as if you’ve made the best of your time here on Earth later on, go all in by learning something you’ve always wanted to learn, jump out of an airplane, (with a parachute!) go for a deep swim in the ocean, “invest” time with your children if you have any (or one day you’ll feel that they’ve grown so big, so fast and that “time really does fly”) or be with your family more often. Do something amazing every single day. Don’t let yourself sleep before doing that cool thing. Doing this shouldn’t feel as a burden, really how most things in our lives feel like nowadays. Instead it should be exactly what it says. AMAZING.

That’s a great way to get greater control of your time here. Another good one is the so common advice to “enjoy the present”. But we really don’t take this into account. In most cases, whatever we do, and often whenever we do it is habitually performed for the future (with a few exceptions like eating and sleeping of course). And we think only in terms of (and only of) the past and that of the future. But by opening our perceptive and all our physical senses and internal curiosity, we really can enjoy the present, even if we’re doing time-consuming chores around the house. Or seriously anything. We just need to live in the present and enjoy the feeling of it. That way, when living in the present, we live every second of our lives. And that’s really important for taking into consideration, for the fact that- so many are alive but just not living.

Hopefully this information, when implemented will help to let time pass slower. We could take this present moment for us by shutting down and doing the amazing thing for today’s part. I think I’ll go do that just now.