“Time isn’t the primary 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 12 months.
Time used to really feel like a race. Or possibly a shadow. Or a trickster. Some days, it slipped via my fingers like water. Different days, it dragged me alongside like a heavy cart. However all the time, 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, inner type of approach: the fixed sense that one thing ought to be taking place, or taking place sooner, 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 after I started to grasp that point isn’t as linear as I had all the time 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 plain. And each time I tuned into it, I discovered myself grounded once more.
Physics agrees in unusual methods. Einstein known as time a “stubbornly persistent phantasm,” and within the language of relativity, time doesn’t move in the way in which we really feel it does. Some physicists consider that the previous, current, and future all exist without delay—that point isn’t a straight line, however extra like a panorama we transfer via. What we expertise as “now” relies 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 subject we enter via presence. That’s why mindfulness and Nada Yoga matter right here: they’re not simply methods for coping—they’re methods of seeing.
Within the teachings of the Eightfold Path, this felt most related to Proper Mindfulness and Proper Focus. However as a substitute of striving to good 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 stated. The one actual second was the one I may hear, really feel, and meet with openness.
When Time Strikes Too Quick
Ultimately, I started to really feel higher. My physique regained power, and my pondering was clearer. I began doing extra, respiratory extra slowly, strolling farther, planning. However with that return got here a unique type of problem: the velocity of life.
It’s unbelievable how shortly we are able to neglect stillness as soon as momentum kicks again in. Emails. Errands. The limitless listing of issues we should always’ve already accomplished. I used to be “again,” however I observed one thing curious—I missed the sluggish 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 realized. I’d remind myself that presence doesn’t have to be difficult—listening to a comfortable drone or resting within the internal hum I may nonetheless really feel after I paid consideration. That tiny ritual grew to become a approach to soften the sides of my days. It jogged my memory that even when life is loud and quick, there’s 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 wrestle, however the mild self-discipline to return, to hear, to not neglect myself within the rush. Persistence, it seems, isn’t one thing you grasp as soon as and for all. It’s one thing you observe many times in small, quiet methods.
The Sound of Persistence
What stunned me most was realizing that endurance has a sound. It’s not all the time silence.
Generally, it’s the low hum of the fridge at midnight. Generally, it’s the regular beat of a distant drum in a bit of music. Generally, 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 after I cease resisting it. A number of conscious 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 examine 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 every part 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 via mindfulness, and particularly via the observe of listening—whether or not to the comfortable whispering tones of the wind in Nada Yoga or to the extraordinary sounds of day by 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 combating time and begin listening to it, we discover one thing surprising—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 “take advantage of our time,” however to assist us really feel time in another way—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. Pay attention 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 stated, time isn’t just the primary factor—it’s the one factor.
About Tony Collins
Tony Collins, EdD, MFA is a documentary filmmaker, trainer, musician, author, and guide with forty years of expertise. His work explores artistic expression, scholarly rigor, and nonfiction storytelling throughout the USA, Central America, Asia, and the UAE. In 2025, he’s self-publishing Inventive Scholarship: Rethinking Analysis in Movie and New Media on Amazon, difficult conventional educational evaluation in movie and new media. Web site: anthonycollinsfilm.com