I woke up this morning and realized it’s February 29th. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew this was a Leap Year, but I was still a bit surprised to notice that unexpected date on my calendar.
Should I be feeling richer in time? After all, here’s an extra day in my month, in my year. And it’s a real day, at least in the sense that the designers of the solar calendar added it in to sort of gather up the bits and pieces of time that haven’t been acknowledged in other years.
I could ignore it, but that seems a bit cavalier. After all, it won’t be back until 2016. I could nod my head to it, then go on about my business, which I believe is what I usually do. As it happens, I’m picking up my granddaughter in a little while, and we’re going to take a take a day trip and have some fun. I didn’t consciously plan the trip today because of Leap Year, but in the back of my mind the date may have influenced me to do something a bit special.
Time, as we’ve all noticed, is a weird concept. If we’re standing in line, it moves like molasses. Yet how often do we say, in November, “Wow, this year has flown by.” And time is inexorable. It’s moving, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.
Only maybe there is. Time feels different to me when I’m meditating. In fact, time seems to stop during those periods. The difference is mindfulness. When I’m totally present in this moment, the concept of time slips away. Now is all there is.
I don’t have to meditate to be mindful. To be present in the moment. I just have to stop and allow myself to just focus on what is. I can put my attention on my body, on how I feel, what my senses perceive right now.
Of course, for most of us, even those of us who pursue it, mindfulness is a fleeting experience. We all have busy lives, and things to do. It requires some discipline – in the best sense of the word – to schedule in some space for mindfulness, whether in meditation or simply sitting quietly and being present to myself.
Life is so full, and the world is so jam packed with stimuli, that we must somehow organize our perceptions. The concept of time is how we gain some feeling of control, and that’s the upside. The downside is that we may feel we’re being rushed headlong through our lives, missing so much along the way.
Let’s remember that time is elastic. It’s a river surging past us. We can choose to unthinkingly step in and be swept away, or we can take time to step out and be still for a while. Perhaps today is a good day to step out of the river, and practice mindfulness.