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“Time isn’t the primary factor. It’s the one factor.” ~Miles Davis
Once I first learn that quote, it hit me proper within the chest. Not as a result of it sounded profound—however as a result of it was one thing I had been slowly, painfully studying over the course of a really quiet, very lengthy 12 months.
Time used to really feel like a race. Or possibly a shadow. Or a trickster. Some days, it slipped by my fingers like water. Different days, it dragged me alongside like a heavy cart. However all the time, it was one thing exterior me—one thing I used to be chasing or making an attempt to flee.
I spent a lot of my life impatient. Not within the apparent, tapping-your-foot sort of manner, however within the quiet, inner sort of manner: the fixed sense that one thing must be occurring, or occurring sooner, or have already got occurred by now. I measured life by milestones—achievements, breakthroughs, arrivals. I informed myself I used to be being productive, however actually, I used to be simply uncomfortable with stillness.
The Turning Level: Time Isn’t Linear
Earlier than all this, I considered sound as one thing exterior—music, noise, dialog. However Nada Yoga remodeled that understanding. Within the stillness of these lengthy days, sound turned an anchor. Even the hum of the heater or the ticking of the clock turned companions. Once I gave them my full consideration, they stopped being background noise and have become a part of the current second.
That is after I started to grasp that point isn’t as linear as I had all the time believed. The previous and future have been concepts taking part in out in my thoughts, however the sound of now—the tone, the breath, the delicate vibration in my chest—was plain. And each time I tuned into it, I discovered myself grounded once more.
Physics agrees in unusual methods. Einstein referred to as time a “stubbornly persistent phantasm,” and within the language of relativity, time doesn’t move in the best way we really feel it does. Some physicists consider that the previous, current, and future all exist directly—that point isn’t a straight line, however extra like a panorama we transfer by. What we expertise as “now” is determined by the place we’re standing, so to talk—our body of reference.
It’s not that point isn’t actual—it’s that our expertise of it’s formed by consideration, reminiscence, and motion.
This perception doesn’t make time really feel much less pressing, but it surely reframes it. If time is an phantasm, it could be much less about seconds ticking by and extra about consciousness itself. What we name “now” isn’t a slice between earlier than and after—it’s a area we enter by presence. That’s why mindfulness and Nada Yoga matter right here: they’re not simply strategies for coping—they’re methods of seeing.
Within the teachings of the Eightfold Path, this felt most related to Proper Mindfulness and Proper Focus. However as a substitute of striving to good these steps, I merely allowed sound to steer me there. Following the thread of vibration was a follow in presence. It didn’t matter what time the clock stated. The one actual second was the one I might hear, really feel, and meet with openness.
When Time Strikes Too Quick
Finally, I started to really feel higher. My physique regained power, and my considering was clearer. I began doing extra, respiration extra slowly, strolling farther, planning. However with that return got here a special sort of problem: the pace of life.
It’s unimaginable how rapidly we are able to neglect stillness as soon as momentum kicks again in. Emails. Errands. The limitless checklist of issues we must always’ve already carried out. I used to be “again,” however I observed one thing curious—I missed the gradual time. Not the discomfort, however the spaciousness. The simplicity. The depth I had found when life wasn’t asking me to maneuver so quick.
I attempted to carry onto what I’d realized. I’d remind myself that presence doesn’t have to be sophisticated—listening to a tender drone or resting within the inside hum I might nonetheless really feel after I paid consideration. That tiny ritual turned a option to soften the perimeters of my days. It jogged my memory that even when life is loud and quick, there may be nonetheless one thing quiet beneath, ready.
And as soon as once more, I turned to the Eightfold Path, this time to Proper Effort. Not effort as in wrestle, however the mild self-discipline to return, to pay attention, to not neglect myself within the rush. Endurance, it seems, isn’t one thing you grasp as soon as and for all. It’s one thing you follow repeatedly in small, quiet methods.
The Sound of Endurance
What stunned me most was realizing that persistence has a sound. It’s not all the time silence.
Generally, it’s the low hum of the fridge at midnight. Generally, it’s the regular beat of a distant drum in a chunk of music. Generally, it’s simply my very own breath or heartbeat or pulse, reminding me that I’m right here.
And presence has its personal rhythm too. The extra I tuned in, the extra I noticed how a lot time opens up after I cease resisting it. A couple of aware minutes can really feel full and wealthy. A rushed hour can really feel like nothing in any respect.
We are saying “time flies” once we’re having fun with ourselves—however I’ve discovered one thing deeper: time expands once we’re absolutely current. Once I pay attention—actually pay attention—to what’s right here, I don’t really feel late. I don’t really feel behind. I really feel complete.
This doesn’t imply I’ve figured all of it out. I nonetheless lose persistence. I nonetheless examine the clock an excessive amount of. However now, I’ve a follow to return to—a follow constructed not on perfection, however on sound, breath, and the quiet belief that the whole lot unfolds in its personal time.
The longer I stroll this path, the extra I see that my struggling round time wasn’t actually about minutes or hours. It was about resistance. It was concerning the perception that the current second was by no means fairly sufficient. That I needed to get someplace, grow to be somebody, obtain one thing earlier than I might relaxation.
However by mindfulness, and particularly by the follow of listening—whether or not to the tender whispering tones of the wind in Nada Yoga or to the extraordinary sounds of day by day life—I’ve found a gentler reality:
The current second isn’t one thing we earn. It’s one thing we enter.
And once we do, once we cease combating time and begin listening to it, we discover one thing sudden—not vacancy, however richness. Not ready, however arrival.
A Closing Reflection
There’s a tender drone of reticulated sounds taking part in as I write this now. A deep tone that hardly shifts however by some means holds me regular. It jogs my memory to breathe. It jogs my memory to decelerate. It jogs my memory that I’m not behind—I’m right here.
I feel that’s the actual reward of each mindfulness and Nada Yoga. To not assist us “benefit from our time,” however to assist us really feel time in another way—not as a stress, however as a presence.
And so I go away you with this:
Subsequent time you’re feeling rushed or stressed, cease. Shut your eyes. Hear for the quietest sound within the room—or in you. It won’t be music, and even stunning, however will probably be actual. And in that sound, nonetheless small, you would possibly discover a doorway to now.
And now, as Miles Davis stated, time is not only the primary factor—it’s the one factor.
About Tony CollinsTony Collins, EdD, MFA is a documentary filmmaker, instructor, musician, author, and guide with forty years of expertise. His work explores artistic expression, scholarly rigor, and nonfiction storytelling throughout the USA, Central America, Asia, and the UAE. In 2025, he’s self-publishing Inventive Scholarship: Rethinking Analysis in Movie and New Media on Amazon, difficult conventional tutorial evaluation in movie and new media. Web site: anthonycollinsfilm.com
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