Scene 1 -Little jolly children, sit in a classroom and understand the complexity of an erstwhile simple concept – TIME. The teacher came in and enlightened about the hands of the clock, hours, minutes, seconds.
Scene 2– High school chaos has ensued and days are short, all the pending work with the deadline of yesterday. A friend says wish we didn’t have to spend so much time eating and could just eat some tablets which gave us all the nutrition (I know – the foodie in me gagged too), many people agree.
Scene 3– University days are as filled with possibility as with uncertainty. Sitting in a lecture discussing concepts so abstract built layer after layer in the air like a palace on clouds – so magical at first but those sitting in classrooms know the altitude doesn’t provide the required level of oxygen.
At one point or another, we all have come across forwarded messages and posts highlighting how much of our life is spent sleeping. We have thought with a sigh if only I didn’t have to waste time sleeping then I could finally get time to exercise.
One would think the remaining time we would utilize and spend well. The little that is left is spent daydreaming precisely 46.9 per cent of the waking hours (hence the heading)
Our mind wanders into the land of past, possible and impossible futures.
Daniel Gilbert and Matthew Killingsworth are Harvard researchers who provided not only the exact percentage but also the correlation between happiness and mind-wandering. Higher the mind wandering lower the happiness level. In their own words “The ability to think about what is not happening is a cognitive achievement that comes at an emotional cost.”
The three scenes together exhibit that there is the curtailment of the clock at 24 hours, further cut short by unavoidable necessary tasks and the little that’s left on the shelf – let’s just say humans don’t always do what’s best even for themselves either in terms of building the right structures, plans or in terms of execution(read – both are severely flawed)
In my opinion, life is nothing but time and how we utilize it. The salient purpose of this article is to readers cognizant of three aspects. Look at the day as 24 hours but also look at the day as one of 365 days of the many years you have on earth. At the same time look at moments don’t let them get lost.
Observe how you spend your time, what tasks take up how much of your time. You would be surprised. Above that, it’s important to take control of your time and acknowledge it is a choice. In the words of Laura Vanderkam who writes about time management, “I don’t have time means it is not a priority”
A wandering mind is an unhappy mind, the antidote to mind wandering is Mindfulness. A quick google search would confirm mindfulness and magic aren’t synonyms but deeper research would make you wonder why not.
Mindfulness has magical benefits. It doesn’t have to be meditating in the Himalayas, it can be achieved even via putting on your headphones and blasting Linkin Park songs.
Think about how you spend your time, how you want to spend it and try to bridge the gap.
Bhavna Chaudhary
Author & Wellness Enthusiast
