Some people have several watches, for different occasions, or simply to ring the changes. I don’t – I have an everyday watch and a precious watch that was a present from my daughter on my 60th birthday. At the moment, it needs a battery, so for a while I was down to the everyday one. Then I saw a funky, flowery one I rather liked, so my watch count went up to three for the first time I can ever remember!
A few days before we left for the UK, the strap on the funky, flowery watch detached itself from the face. A friend offered to repair it for me, but wasn’t able to get it back to me before we set off, so the everyday one was back in exclusive service. As I mentioned here, the journey wasn’t without its problems, and another minor inconvenience was that the same thing happened to the strap on my everyday watch as the funky, flowery timepiece!
As someone who does my best to live a spiritual life, I don’t believe in coincidences, only synchronicities, and I started to wonder why, all of a sudden, I had no working watches at all. I decided not to buy a replacement and see if it was possible to live for a month without the benefit of a watch. I could check the time on my phone or my laptop, so I wouldn’t miss any appointments or meetings with friends and family, but I expected it to be difficult, given that for as long as I could remember, I had always worn a watch of some description.
I was wrong about that. It hasn’t really bothered me at all. In fact, I rather like not being able to glance down and see the time, wherever I am, whatever I’m doing. The first thing I noticed was my bedtime routine and sleep patterns improved. I like to read when I go to bed, and if it’s a crucial point in the story, I can read for hours. Or I’ll feel I should get to sleep, put the book down, then lie awake for ages because I wasn’t yet ready to nod off. With no idea of the passage of time, I simply read until I was too tired to read any more, put the book down, and went straight to sleep.
My dog Luna sleeps with me, and either me, she or both of us need to get out at least once during the night. Again, not seeing the time, I just got back into bed and slept again, and so did she. Come the morning, if I woke up and still felt tired, I’d just nod off again, whereas if I can see the time, I’m more likely to think I ‘should’ get up. This means I’m listening to my body for my sleep needs, not relying on the clock to tell me when to go to sleep or get up, and as a result, I hardly ever find myself nodding off to sleep during the day. This had become a regular feature of my days recently, and I was considering getting checked out in case there was a physical cause, but no, I just need to sleep when necessary, not when I think I should!
However, the most noticeable results of being sans timepiece for a month have happened in my everyday living, and I didn’t fully become aware of this until I spent the day in Tintagel, Cornwall with my family last week.
As spiritual seekers, we all understand the importance of living in the moment, because that’s all that really matters. In this article, Amelia Bert reminds us that linear time doesn’t exist in the spirit world. That’s why Angels can be wherever they are needed, because past, present and future don’t come into it. Time is a human construct, but it’s not something we need to be always attached to and influenced by. In fact, when time isn’t a consideration, the present moment becomes everything, and this is what I found at Tintagel.
I was fully focused on the experience, talking to my family, admiring the views, spotting little things like a tiny flower among the long grass, an insect hovering, the look of love a dog gave his human companion. All these things and more added so much to the day, and I could have missed out on several of them if I was glancing at my watch, as so many people were. When you’re consciously not doing something yourself, you tend to notice when other people do the same thing, whereas if everyone’s doing it, it doesn’t really register, does it?
Any time spent with my family is precious, as I don’t see much of them, living in Spain as I do. However, this particular get together felt extra special, and I’m sure it’s because I was focused on every moment of the day. It was all about what was happening, and not when it was happening. And my memories of the day are more vivid because I was present in everything, and in every moment.
Next week, I head back to Spain, and I’ll be reunited with my funky, flowery watch, but I won’t be going back to wearing it all day, every day. I feel I’ve been living more mindfully over the last month, and I rather like it!
