Have you ever found yourself at work or doing something that you would rather NOT be doing, and were time watching for the end of your shift to get there sooner? I used to do this a lot. I remember looking at my watch and wishing it was quitting time, yet there were still hours left before that time. While I was wishing my day to go end faster, what was I missing out on during that moment?
Imagine if I got my wish, that I could make the day blip faster through the stuff I didn’t want to do so I could be doing the stuff I wanted to do? I would essentially be wishing my life away, and shortening it by years and years by doing so! Not to mention, that when I am wishing to be somewhere else, doing something else, I would be missing the very life in the moment where I could make a real connection. This in-the-moment connection is the only place life is, as the future place and time of better happiness is just an imagined idea in our mind.
How about instead when we catch ourselves time watching, that we use this as an opportunity to remind ourselves to go into the moment to more deeply enguage with what we are doing. This way, we are not only NOT wishing our lives away anymore, but also bettering the relationship we have with what we are doing in the present moment, which will improve the quality of this experience, perhaps to such a degree that will cultivate interest, curiosity, enthusiasm, deeper happiness, and passion for what we are doing, and hence not desire to be somewhere else anymore!
Give it a try for a month and see how you feel, I think you may be pleasantly surprised with the results!
Thank you,
Arne Pedersen
