Take a pencil and draw a straight line. The beginning of the line represents the day you were born. You know that date. The end of the line represents the day you will die. Nobody knows that date. Now put a cross somewhere along the line representing today.
Everything between the day you were born and today is past. It doesn’t exist any more. You can only access it by using your memory (or the memories of others). Everything between today and the day you’ll die is the future. That doesn’t exist yet. You can only access it by using imagination. Some people focus a lot of their attention and energy on the past, maybe going over and over some painful event, some loss or hurt. Although they are alive now, they’re living in the past. Others focus most of their attention and energy on the future, wondering and worrying about all that might be, but which isn’t yet. They are living in some multi-layered world of what ifs.
The present is hard to grasp. The moment you become aware of it, it flies into the past. If you try to prepare yourself for what’s to come, for what lies in the immediate future, then that can rush into the present with such speed that it obliterates it.
There is only really one time you can be fully alive and that’s the present time. Using our memories we pull the past into the present, and using our imaginations we pull the future into the present too. The present is formed from past realities which create the framework of possible futures in the here and now.
The flow of time is like a great river which you can stand in the middle of. Or you can wade upstream into the past and see where the present is coming from. Or you can dive in downstream and imagine what the river may become.
The flow of time is not uniform and consistent however. Can you think of a time when time seemed to drag? Can you think of a different time where, conversely, it flew past? What do you think influenced those different speeds? Are there any particular activities or circumstances for you where time tends to drag, or to fly? What influences the speed of time? What slows it up? And what speeds it up? Is it down to you? Can you influence the speed of time, and if you can, how can you do that?
We us a lot of metaphors of time in our language. Let’s consider some of them to see what effect they have on the flow of time.
Passing the time. Do we mean passing in the same way a car overtakes another? Or do we mean transferring it, somehow?
Taking my time. Where are you going to take it? And how are you going to take it? Take my time declares a very personal time. It implies that I am in control of time.
Wasting time. How can time be wasted? We tend to say time has been wasted when we mean that we wish we hadn’t chosen to do exactly what we did choose.
Enough time, or, time enough. These are statements of contentment about time. Either we are able to complete something, or there is a satisfactory amount of time to do what we want to do.
The right time.The wrong time. This implies correct or incorrect actions. For example, it might be a good idea to sit down, but in certain circumstances, sitting down now will cause some problem or some offence. This judgement about right and wrong, like most such judgements, is usually after the event. We judge the present as right or wrong depending on the outcome of the future.
Time stands still. Can you actually experience time standing still? Can you achieve a moment of quiet and stillness through meditation, for example, where the flow of time seems stopped.
Making time. It’s not possible to manufacture time. Time flows by without us having any ability whatsover to see or otherwise know where it comes from or where it’s going to end up. Yet, intuitively, we have a sense that we can make time stand still, or that someone else can make it stand for us.
Sharing the time. Sharing time is like sharing candle flames. If you and I share some time together, then neither of us has any less time. In fact, when we share time with someone, we can experience a heightened quality of time.
As you consider these, and other, metaphors of time, what do you learn about the flow of time?
That it is continuous but that it changes speed.
That you can move around in the flow of time, using memory, attention and imagination, each to varying degrees.
Heroes Not Zombies 
[…] three flows – energy, time and consciousness – are like three rivers which run through us, around us, and from which we, […]