Expanding the Day

Expanding the Day
by Linda Anderson Krech

To cope with the extreme seasons we have here in Vermont, we have plenty of seasonal accoutrements for our health, safety, comfort, convenience and enjoyment.  I used to go through a fairly elaborate process of swapping all of this paraphernalia twice a year, once things began warming up or cooling down.

But now that time is racing forward at the speed of light, why bother?  By the time I make the wardrobe substitution, for example, it’s time to change it all back again. 

And it’s not just the big picture that is speeding up.  From one day to the next often seems to pass in the blink of an eye.  Time for another morning shower??  Time to go to bed already??  As children, a summer day was such an expansive stretch of time, wasn’t it?  What a long journey we took, to make our way from morning until night.  Not anymore.

Is there nothing to be done to slow down the apparent speeding up of time?  Given that I only have 4,418 days left (if I reach my 30,000 day average quota), I am very interested in stretching out my days as expansively as possible.

But I have noticed that when I make a point of slowing down and engaging my senses throughout the day, I have a more expansive experience of time. I’ve been surprised that these simple efforts seem to really help.  Rather than days flitting by in a blur, this presence of body and mind provides greater traction.   

Feeling the flow of air as we inhale is a simple way of slowing down the bodymind and quieting the internal chattering. May we all reduce our preoccupations that buffer us from the wonder of the world. Time seems to move more slowly, as our tempo includes some rests in between the notes. The more we develop a sensory connection with the world, the more satisfying our experience can be, and the more expansive our days can become.