When professional boxer Tyson Fury was asked in an interview, “What one day would you go back and relive?”
Tyson said, “None of them.”
On the surface that answer sounds cold and inhuman. However, when you go further into time and our relationship to it then you can begin to grasp Tyson’s perspective.
He went on to explain how he has a fascination with time and how it’s always evaporating.
Time is ephemeral in nature, it is something to be experienced and released. There is no holding onto it no matter how much we want to, and often the more we hold onto it the more it hurts.
“The past has no power over the present moment.” -Eckhart Tolle
A moment in time is acknowledged when you are by yourself or alongside the company of familiar faces, and then it fades into eternity, and whether we like it or not the river keeps on flowing…
“Time and tide wait for no man.” -Geoffrey Chaucer
The river is moving forward no matter what. The question is are you ready to embrace it?
As we go down the river of time we experience “time dilation” in one of two ways. Painfully or pleasurably.
When we aren’t enjoying the experience the seconds drag on. Think of those moments in elementary school. Say you finished your test early and then the realization sunk in that you had another 30 minutes to go before the next mildly interesting thing.
For a captive elementary school student watching 30 minutes pass by tick by tock can be agony.
And what about when we are actually enjoying ourselves? Think of your wedding day. Whether you had one already, or are planning yours, or you think you will have one in the future… what you already know is, that the day flew by or is going to fly by.
When we are having a rich, vibrant, action-packed experience the seconds become irrelevant, what matters more than anything is the moment, who you are with, and how present you are with them and the moment.
How much did you put your phone down and soak in the moment? The moment that you are never going to get again…
Another example is when we are sleeping and hours fly by in what we perceive to be mere seconds.
Meditators and yogis alike are familiar with this specific sensation of time slipping forward. For an experienced meditator 1 hour can “feel” like 5 minutes.
Where is all of this “consciousness in time” flowing to? We don’t know.
And where does the “consciousness in time” flow from? We don’t know.
That’s the great mystery to be respected. What is guaranteed is we are along for the ride.
We always know if we enjoyed authentic “quality time” and we always know who was around us.
We know if we spent the time being grateful, if we appreciated the moment, truly embraced it, leaned in, and fully expressed ourself.
Time is objectively quantifiable because it can be measured in units like seconds and minutes and so on.
The paradox of time is not all time is experienced equally; that’s the dilation effect. Our experience of time is not always the same, but what is guaranteed is that the river of time is going to keep flowing forward.
So live the heck out of your life while you are still here. Allow the past to be in the past and flow with the present.
Tyson continues to explain in the interview that he lives for today as much as possible. He lives for the now as much as possible, because it’s not guaranteed and it’s all any of us ever really have.
“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.” -Eckhart Tolle
Lyrics from the song “Global Concepts” by Robert DeLong for contemplation:
After I die, I’ll re-awake
Redefine what was at stake
From the hindsight of a god
I’ll see the people that I used
See the substance I abused
The ugly places that I lived
Did I make money, was I proud?
Did I play my songs too loud?
Did I leave my life to chance
Or did I make you fucking dance?
Make the most of your days and carpe diem!
Carpe diem: the enjoyment of the pleasures of the moment without concern for the future; living in the moment.