Often, time feels like a weight on our shoulders when we must get to our appointments “in time”. The recent stay-at-home orders have learned us new experiences, like how to fill that vacuum of time. A subsequent new experience that we have learned is that each day is similar to the previous and the next day. Somehow, time has gotten lost upon us.
Since mid 2013, I have been in the above situation, following my severe burn-out and subsequent depression. I took me some time (sic!) to get used used to my abundance of time. I still wear a watch because I like it; not because I need it for any purpose. I’m living as if time is a flow and I am floating on it (eg, air mattress, raft). It brings peace of mind.
Sometimes, I do have appointments (eg, car dealer) and these automatically bring (back) stress. The old ‘me’ then takes over control from the new ‘me’. The old ‘me’ (ie, pre-burnout) never really left despite my post-burnout transformation. It’s like restoring a previous status using a tool, like Apple‘s Time Machine.
Apparently, our mind has a similar tool. New Scientist, 4 March 2020: “Human brains have ‘time cells’ that let us recall when events happened”. Moreover, our body has a circadian clock (regulating the sleep-wake cycle), and an epigenetic clock (for measuring our ageing). Latter clock “explains” the differences between how old we are, feel and look.
Wiki: “A circadian clock, or circadian oscillator, is a biochemical oscillator that cycles with a stable phase and is synchronized with solar time. [] While a precise 24-hour circadian clock is found in many organisms, it is not universal.”
Given the almost universal circadian clock, it’s no surprise that humans “invented” time by dividing the circadian clock in units (eg, 60 seconds, 60 minutes, 24 hours). The ancient Sumerian civilisation (my blogs) used a Base-60 rather than a decimal numeral system (my 2016 blog) when “inventing” time, as we still know and use it.
Time used to be a measurement tool (eg, a ruler) but now time is ruling our lives. Time is a maximum (daily) input which we only value by maximising our output. Time feels abundant until you run out of it. Time is a precious and uncertain gift that should liberate us but most of us act as if we are a slave to the rhythm of time.
“Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back”. A quote by Harvey Mackay (b. 1932), “an American businessman, author and syndicated columnist”.
Slave to the Rhythm (1985) by Grace Jones
artist, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2
Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless stated otherwise.
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