How I Realized to Be Current—One Sound at a Time

“Time isn’t the principle 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 yr.

Time used to really feel like a race. Or perhaps a shadow. Or a trickster. Some days, it slipped by way of my fingers like water. Different days, it dragged me alongside like a heavy cart. However at all times, it was one thing outdoors 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 type of manner, however within the quiet, inside type of manner: the fixed sense that one thing needs to 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 reworked that understanding. Within the stillness of these lengthy days, sound grew to become an anchor. Even the hum of the heater or the ticking of the clock grew to become 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 know that point isn’t as linear as I had at all times believed. The previous and future had been concepts enjoying 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 known 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 imagine that the previous, current, and future all exist without delay—that point isn’t a straight line, however extra like a panorama we transfer by way of. What we expertise as “now” relies on 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, nevertheless it reframes it. If time is an phantasm, it might 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 subject we enter by way of presence. That’s why mindfulness and Nada Yoga matter right here: they’re not simply methods 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 guide me there. Following the thread of vibration was a follow in presence. It didn’t matter what time the clock mentioned. 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 energy, and my pondering was clearer. I began doing extra, respiration extra slowly, strolling farther, planning. However with that return got here a unique type of problem: the velocity of life.

It’s unimaginable how shortly we are able to neglect stillness as soon as momentum kicks again in. Emails. Errands. The countless record of issues we should always’ve already finished. I used to be “again,” however I observed one thing curious—I missed the sluggish 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 must be difficult—listening to a tender drone or resting within the inside hum I might nonetheless really feel after I paid consideration. That tiny ritual grew to become a technique 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 battle, however the mild self-discipline to return, to hear, to not neglect myself within the rush. Persistence, it seems, isn’t one thing you grasp as soon as and for all. It’s one thing you follow time and again in small, quiet methods.

The Sound of Persistence

What stunned me most was realizing that endurance has a sound. It’s not at all times silence.

Generally, it’s the low hum of the fridge at midnight. Generally, it’s the regular beat of a distant drum in a bit 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” after we’re having fun with ourselves—however I’ve discovered one thing deeper: time expands after we’re absolutely current. Once I hear—actually hear—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 endurance. I nonetheless verify 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 every thing 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 in regards to the perception that the current second was by no means fairly sufficient. That I needed to get someplace, turn into somebody, obtain one thing earlier than I might relaxation.

However by way of mindfulness, and particularly by way of the follow of listening—whether or not to the tender whispering tones of the wind in Nada Yoga or to the odd sounds of each day life—I’ve found a gentler reality:

The current second isn’t one thing we earn. It’s one thing we enter.

And after we do, after we cease preventing time and begin listening to it, we discover one thing surprising—not vacancy, however richness. Not ready, however arrival.

A Closing Reflection

There’s a tender drone of reticulated sounds enjoying 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 believe that’s the actual reward of each mindfulness and Nada Yoga. To not assist us “profit from our time,” however to assist us really feel time otherwise—not as a stress, however as a presence.

And so I go away you with this:

Subsequent time you really feel rushed or stressed, cease. Shut your eyes. Pay attention for the quietest sound within the room—or in you. It won’t be music, and even lovely, however it is going to be actual. And in that sound, nevertheless small, you may discover a doorway to now.

And now, as Miles Davis mentioned, time is not only the principle factor—it’s the one factor.