How to Stop Time

Not that I've been alive that long, but in the past fifty or so years, time seems to have sped up so incredibly that most of us can no longer keep pace. We fly around the world at dizzying speeds. Our voices are beamed to the other side of the planet faster than we can wink. I've seen people eat spaghetti as they walk and burgers as they zoom along the highway. In our spare time we watch races and jog along busy main roads. Does just reading this make your heart beat faster and your breathing become more shallow? It does mine as I write.

Wouldn't it be blissful to step out of the rat race, to actually stop time and just ‘be'? Imagine the peace and freedom of timelessness. An impossible dream? I think not.

Of course, we can't halt the motions of time and change, nor can we stop our own aging process, but we do have the power to slow down and even stop time for a few moments. Yesterday, I walked past two huge beech trees. Their dark, bare branches were stretching against the low, grey blanket of winter cloud and an incredible noise snatched me out of my foggy world of thought. Within an instant I became aware of an intense din that came from the trees.

Dozens of birds shrieking, crowing, chirping and singing - fluttering and hopping from branch to branch. I stopped in my tracks and gazed at this spectacular orchestra. What a noise they were making! How vibrant, how alive and full of energy these black swaying branches were.

I stood and I lost my Self as I became part of the timeless mystery of life. The houses around me disappeared, and the mud on my shoes no longer weighed me down, but connected me with the rest of the planet. All my senses danced the same dance as these beautiful creatures so high above me.

For those moments, time stopped. I became ageless and One with something beyond what I can describe in words. I stopped ‘doing' and was simply ‘being'.

These are the moments that give us the energy to race on, to speed up when we need to. They create balance and a reservoir of calm and inner peace that we can draw from when the going gets rough.

But what if you live in a big city and finding a tree to gaze at would be more stressful than inspiring? What if, right now, you aren't healthy enough to go walking or it's the middle of the night and time seems to be dragging you through sleepless hours, lost in the endless maze of repetitive thoughts?

How can you step from the pressures of modern life into a timeless space of freedom and inspiring beauty? Where can you find a haven of timelessness that connects you with all things?

Let me make two simple suggestions. One is to look without - look around you and find a little piece of beauty right where you are. An image that inspires you, a story that soothes your soul, a piece of music that makes your heart overflow with joy or even an item that holds a happy, innocent memory. Concentrate your attention and enjoy what this little something has to give you - sense it, savour it, absorb it. And lose yourself in the pleasure of simply being for a little while.

The other path to a haven of timelessness is found by going within. Find a memory or thought that brings a smile to your face and allow a joyful, happy sensation to spread from your heart. If you can't think of one right now, then imagine a situation in the future when you can feel truly happy and lose your self in that for a few moments. Immerse yourself, make it more real and vivid and notice how that changes your state from frantic doing to simply being.

Whether we walk with an open mind and heart, or whether we search for joy and the delight of simply living by going within, it is the ability to step out of the rat race and slow down for a few moments which allows us to stop time - at least for a few delightful, energising minutes. I wish you many of them today.