Here we are once again in the middle of the holiday season, getting ready to welcome the New Year.

Many of us, especially as we get older, wonder at how quickly the year has passed. It seems just yesterday we were putting up last year’s holiday decorations, and now we’re about to take down the ones from this year.

Every Monday we do our laundry. And it seems before we know it, it’s Monday once more and we’re back doing our laundry, again and again.

We remember a movie we liked and realize with a shock it came out ten years ago! No, it couldn’t be ten years. Where did the time go? And what did it all mean?

Is there any way to slow the inexorable passage of time? Of course we can’t decelerate the clock. The world’s time goes on, measured in seconds and milliseconds on our phones and on the clocks on our walls. As T.S. Eliot observed, “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.”

But There’s Another Kind of Time

We’re speaking now of internal time. And when we unlock its potential, as William Blake told us, it becomes possible…

To see a World in a Grain of Sand and a Heaven in a Wild Flower, hold Infinity in the palm of your hand and Eternity in an hour. — William Blake (1757-1827)

When we understand internal time we have the power to change our relationship with each moment. And the simple secret to this metamorphosis is learning how to focus our attention to keep it anchored in Now. This is something Thoreau urged us to do:

Now or Never! You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. — Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862)

And again:

In eternity there is indeed something true and sublime. But all these times and places and occasions are now and here. God himself culminates in the present moment and will never be mortifying in the lapse of the ages. Time is but a stream I go a-fishin’ in. I drink at it, but when I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is. Its thin current slides away but eternity remains. — Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862)

All the moments that are a doorway to eternity slip by us because we don’t value them. We don’t pay attention. In a coffee shop we wait in line zoned out until these pesky empty moments have elapsed and at last we’re at the counter, ordering our special coffee. And then we zone out again until our name is called.

But what if we’re awake to life while we’re waiting in that line?

We become aware of the sounds in the room, the light shining on the texture of the wall.

We see a mother and daughter in deep conversation and can feel their comfort with each other. At another table a young couple are trying to impress one another and we can sense their excitement with its underlying anxiety. Then there’s a man (or woman) similar in age to ourself. His (or her) anxiety mirrors our own, and we become aware of the emotions passing through ourselves and how they may be manifesting in the world.

So many valuable insights to be gleaned in just a few moments of being aware. How much life has been packed into mere seconds of clock time that otherwise would have disappeared like drops of water in the desert sand.

This is why the voices of the wise come to us from across the ages, telling us there are no pesky empty moments. Each moment is full of wonderful things and a hint of the eternal.

How to See the Wonder in Life and Find a New Relationship With Time

We are absent from life because we don’t have our attention focused on the infinity in the palm of our hand and the eternity in an hour.

Our failure to be present steals from us the magic of life. The moments flow by without our participation. We seek fulfillment in the passing time we don’t even pay attention to, and we lose our greatest possibilities.

As OneJourney founder Guy Finley tells us:

As paradoxical as it may seem, the more we dream and scheme to win from this world of passing time what we imagine will complete us, the further away we drift from a Timeless world, within us, wherein alone it is possible to realize what can make us whole. — Guy Finley (1949-)

A New Year’s Resolution: Learn How to Regain Your Attention

Here’s a New Year’s resolution that can make a real difference in your life. Make it your aim over this coming year to devote some energy to understanding and regaining your attention. This is the secret to making time last.

You can find lots of helpful information for free at www.GuyFinley.org . On the Homepage select the Tools and Practices section. When the next page comes up, in the menu on the left select Attention under Tools and Practices. Then spend a little time each day learning more and more about this powerful tool.

Finally, Here’s an Inspiring New Year’s Message From Guy Finley

Guy has some encouraging words to help us make the most of the opportunities for growing self-understanding in the New Year. You can watch him by clicking the link below:

Watch Guy Finley’s New Year’s Message:

Here’s wishing you a lovely New Year where you make the most of every moment,

Dr. Ellen Dickstein
The OneJourney Project

PS: You are invited to join Guy Finley’s FREE talks on these life-transforming ideas. All his talks are livestreamed and archived! For details visit guyfinley.org/peace