Such a contemplative and reflective time for many, this being the last month of the year. I’ll bet if you were given a nickel each time you heard one say (including yourself), “I can’t believe it’s the end of the year” or “this year just flew by”, you’d prosper nicely.
But is time really moving faster – maybe it’s just mind trickery. I think Einstein’s theory that time is an illusion has merit. Consider how time passes differently for say a busy executive compared to an elderly person with not much to do in their day to a mom of several children with all kinds of extracurricular activities. Or a teenager mostly focused on their social interaction to a toddler who probably has no concept of time at all. Depending on what station or stage of life you are in, it’s clear your brain will process the passage of time differently. As our lives roll out, we begin to experience less ‘new’ or ‘first’ moments so routine and predictable patterns set in. To illustrate this point; watch a movie for the first time, let’s say it’s an action-packed adventure with constant ‘wow’ moments that catch you by surprise and keep you totally in the story. Now watch it again, whether a day or a week or so later and you’ll probably notice that movie seems shorter or went by faster. This is because the element of the unexpected is gone; bye-bye surprises. Another example would be going somewhere for the first time – not familiar with the route. It might take extra time and attention to get to where you’re going where as a path you’ve traveled often may feel like it takes less time. Clearly, time did not go by faster in both cases, it was how we perceived it – how it felt.
There’s a limitless amount of chances in a day to make the most of each minute to help us feel better about who we are and the life we are living. It is said that the more of your minutes that matter, the more purposeful, alive and happy we will be. Busy bees worry less because they are busy being. But busy has it’s downside if the minutes are filled with obligations imposed by others or stressful actions not of your choice. Days can fly by into weeks and months like a locomotive about to jump the tracks if we don’t drive that train. And by this, I mean we need to spend our time serving us and our growth and happiness first. Getting to all those things we’ve always wanted to now instead of later whether that be the vacation, the relationship, the class … whatever it is, stop acting as if there will always be time later. Being a past procrastinator, I can speak to this loudly. It’s not just about how we perceive our time but how we spend it and through what lens we view it.
Past, present & future are defining time segments; each contributing to our lives in worthy ways but to what degree are you giving each your attention? Too much focus on the past or future can make you lose sight of your present life. So let us embrace what might be the most important life lesson we will encounter; learning how to balance the impact of each stage and the influence each plays in our evolvement for a purposeful and fulfilling life.
Reflection of your life up to this point should serve as a barometer – highlights of the game, so-to-speak that offer a review to what might have worked and what didn’t. If you find yourself traveling backward mentally, too often treating today’s situation through the lens of yesterday’s experience – this is a signal to take whatever steps needed to resolve any past issues clouding your thinking and release old thought patterns that are holding you back from your forward moving life. Imagine taking a road trip but instead of putting the car into ‘drive’ you kicked it into ‘reverse’ trying to get there. Progression … yay / Regression … boo.
Solely focused on the present can sound so progressive, taking life as it comes but a little caution may be needed to prevent rambling around like a tumbleweed; unstable and haphazardly. Being present pays off nicely in reducing stress, shining more clarity on stuff, improving relationships, and increasing a sense of well-being. It also does a great job in fueling our future ambitions, just so long as one is aware and accepting of the right nowness of things. Translation; honor learned lessons of the past while not fanatically planning the future … not too cold, not too hot, just right 
As for future focused; not anxiously over-thinking outcomes and what the future holds will help to unlock our full potential and offer sweet inner peace. A life well lived should be happily anticipated so allow space for surprises and results that may be better than you ever expected. I believe in the occasional miracle and feel my only work in this arena is to get clear on what will make me happy. I visualize like an athlete in brilliant detail what my desire looks like and then relax and trust it will come.
So this is where I currently find myself; between my now and not yet … proudly focusing less on my past and giving more energy to my present while learning to trust that my future will be what I intend it to be. I am fully aware that the present is where it happens first. “I am thankful for all the past lessons I’ve learned, the life I am now living and will focus on my future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there” anonymous
This is my observation; it isn’t so much about how much time I have, but what am I doing with that time. We have all the time we need to do the things we want to do. Or to waste.
Is that your alarm clock ringing … it’s time to wake up 