It's About Time

Growing up I used to hear my elders speak of time as fleeting, as unknown, as being too short, or as not having enough of it.  I could not fathom what they were talking about!  Watching the hands move on a clock, the seconds and minutes ticked by at the same rate for everyone, didn't they?  So what was the fuss?

I stopped clock-watching many years ago.  Yes, I do still use timepieces to track hours and mnutes, but I don't look at time the same way as I used to.  Time is still measured by minutes and seconds, days, weeks, seasons.  But my attitude towards time has changed.

My day is no longer controlled by a schedule -- by being to work at a certain time, having assignments done by a certain time, meetings, laundry, cleaning, yardwork, luncheons, social activites, and scheduled maintenance controlled by the calendar and clock.

Yes, I still use a calendar to schedule appointments, plan events, provide an umbrella structure to my time, but it has almost become an after-thought, rather than the controlling influence in my life.  I seem to have entered more fully into that artistic free-fall where time fades away and the present moment is all that there is.  Artists are very familiar with the feeling, as are writers, inventors, scientists, musicians and mathematicians.  We become so immersed in the doing that we lose track of time.  Suddenly, it's hours later, and we do not have the measured tick-tock to mark how time has passed.  It happens, too, when reading, writing, watching television, listening to music.  The concept of time is individually suspended; the passage of time is not noted.

Such was yesterday.  I find time "flying," particularly in the studio.  There, it is so easy to become right-brained, letting the colors flow and merge, structures take shape and form emerge.  This "out-of-time" experience continued all day, punctuated by the need to eat, drink tea, tend the fireplace.  But what really happened was this:  I was so "out-of-time" I forgot to write this blog.  Hence, a day late.

On a cellular level we are regulated by a circadian rhythm.  On a mental level, however, it's more of a bossa-nova rhythm, where anything can happen -- stops, tempo changes, rhyme.  The regulator clock switches to reggae, hip-hop, or full-out  birdsong.   And, all of a sudden, there's a surprise!  Beethoven!!!

I truly think that removing the regulation of time has allowed me to be more creative.  Let me know your thoughts!