“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 exterior 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 approach, however within the quiet, inside type of approach: the fixed sense that one thing needs to be taking place, or taking place quicker, 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 once I started to grasp that point isn’t as linear as I had at all times believed. The previous and future have been concepts taking part in out in my thoughts, however the sound of now—the tone, the breath, the refined vibration in my chest—was simple. And each time I tuned into it, I discovered myself grounded once more.
Physics agrees in unusual methods. Einstein referred to 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 directly—that point isn’t a straight line, however extra like a panorama we transfer by way of. What we expertise as “now” will depend 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, however 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 area we enter by way of presence. That’s why mindfulness and Nada Yoga matter right here: they’re not simply strategies for coping—they’re methods of seeing.
Within the teachings of the Eightfold Path, this felt most linked to Proper Mindfulness and Proper Focus. However as an alternative of striving to excellent these steps, I merely allowed sound to steer me there. Following the thread of vibration was a observe in presence. It didn’t matter what time the clock mentioned. The one actual second was the one I may 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 considering was clearer. I began doing extra, respiratory extra slowly, strolling farther, planning. However with that return got here a special type of problem: the velocity of life.
It’s unbelievable how shortly we are able to overlook stillness as soon as momentum kicks again in. Emails. Errands. The countless checklist of issues we must always’ve already carried out. I used to be “again,” however I seen one thing curious—I missed the gradual 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 discovered. I’d remind myself that presence doesn’t must be difficult—listening to a comfortable drone or resting within the internal hum I may nonetheless really feel once I paid consideration. That tiny ritual grew to become a option to soften the sides 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 overlook myself within the rush. Endurance, it seems, isn’t one thing you grasp as soon as and for all. It’s one thing you observe repeatedly in small, quiet methods.
The Sound of Endurance
What stunned me most was realizing that endurance has a sound. It’s not at all times silence.
Typically, it’s the low hum of the fridge at midnight. Typically, it’s the regular beat of a distant drum in a bit of music. Typically, 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 once I cease resisting it. A number 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” once we’re having fun with ourselves—however I’ve discovered one thing deeper: time expands once we’re totally 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 entire.
This doesn’t imply I’ve figured all of it out. I nonetheless lose endurance. I nonetheless test the clock an excessive amount of. However now, I’ve a observe to return to—a observe constructed not on perfection, however on sound, breath, and the quiet belief that the whole lot 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 may relaxation.
However by way of mindfulness, and particularly by way of the observe of listening—whether or not to the comfortable whispering tones of the wind in Nada Yoga or to the unusual sounds of every day life—I’ve found a gentler reality:
The current second isn’t one thing we earn. It’s one thing we enter.
And once we do, once we cease preventing time and begin listening to it, we discover one thing sudden—not vacancy, however richness. Not ready, however arrival.
A Closing Reflection
There’s a comfortable drone of reticulated sounds taking part in as I write this now. A deep tone that hardly shifts however one way or the other 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 depart you with this:
Subsequent time you really feel rushed or stressed, cease. Shut your eyes. Hear 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, nonetheless 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.
About Tony Collins
Tony Collins, EdD, MFA is a documentary filmmaker, instructor, musician, author, and advisor with forty years of expertise. His work explores inventive expression, scholarly rigor, and nonfiction storytelling throughout the USA, Central America, Asia, and the UAE. In 2025, he’s self-publishing Artistic Scholarship: Rethinking Analysis in Movie and New Media on Amazon, difficult conventional tutorial evaluation in movie and new media. Web site: anthonycollinsfilm.com
