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Tara Novak

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It's About Time

Measured Time – it allows humans to be efficient and productive, to travel and communicate and to have global economies.  
But it also separates us from our natural sense of the world. We rely on our phones, clocks, and watches – not our own awareness of the passage of daylight.  

The only thing natural about measured time is that it was originally based on one revolution of the earth around the sun. However, with the invention of the quartz clock, our underlying unit of time changed from the second to something nearly a million times smaller.  
Somehow, this shift seems to have passed by largely unnoticed by general society.  
However, this is significant. It is the moment when our timepieces “broke free” of the very concept where time originated: our planet’s daily rotation.  

As I sit here writing this, there is an old clock on the wall about 6 feet from me, its ticking the only sound in the room besides the scratching of my pencil on paper and the sighing of my dog Jack.  
Having grown up with clocks in my house, there is something comforting about this small regular clicking. But when I strip away that nostalgic sense and dig a little deeper, I begin to question its presence.  Why exactly do I need to be continuously reminded of the passing seconds?  
The sun hanging low above the southern trees outside my window tells me all I truly need to know - that it is a little past noon, and there are only a few hours of light left in this early winter day.  

What happens if we throw out time?  
If we stop setting alarm clocks, will we never wake up? If we don’t have an exact appointment time, will we never meet anyone?  
For so many people, our sense of worth is connected to our progress over time: the minutes, the hours, the days and years.  
What if, instead, we realize that our worth actually lies in our presence – in the energy we invest into whomever and whatever is around us at any given moment?  

I know we can’t just snap our fingers and erase an entire society built upon the measurement of time…  
But maybe we can find small ways to lessen its control over our actions and loosen its stress-inducing value system, thereby freeing ourselves to more fully experience joy in the present.

01/18/2022

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6 comments

  • Mary Hahn
    Mary Hahn Omaha
    Jan 18 2022 6:48 PM
    Being retired, we don’t set alarms to wake up anymore! And I don’t worry about going to sleep at a certain time! I can read as long as I want before I get sleepy. We still need clocks to remind us of appointments, but those are not everyday. Mostly we notice that it is time to fix dinner. The stomach has a timetable. Time is still at a premium, it seems we never have enough!

    Being retired, we don’t set alarms to wake up anymore! And I don’t worry about going to sleep at a certain time! I can read as long as I want before I get sleepy. We still need clocks to remind us of appointments, but those are not everyday. Mostly we notice that it is time to fix dinner. The stomach has a timetable. Time is still at a premium, it seems we never have enough!

  • Tara Novak
    Tara Novak
    Jan 18 2022 6:51 PM
    Hi Mary, that's such a great and different perspective you have of "time" right now - although I agree, the stomach always knows what time it is, and ultimately there is never enough time for anything else! Thank you for reading and sharing, and hope you are all well. T x

    Hi Mary, that's such a great and different perspective you have of "time" right now - although I agree, the stomach always knows what time it is, and ultimately there is never enough time for anything else!
    Thank you for reading and sharing, and hope you are all well. T x

  • Marcia Neu
    Marcia Neu Anacortes, WA
    Jan 18 2022 8:29 PM
    Not being retired, I can't yet snap my fingers and loosen my schedule's (and thus time's) daily hold on me - except during a staycation. I miss analog clocks that allowed me to intuitively gauge time at a glance, instead of calculating exactly how many minutes are left until I have to be somewhere. Thanks for your thoughtful pondering on time - you'll have me thinking about it for days to come - and looking forward to your new song!

    Not being retired, I can't yet snap my fingers and loosen my schedule's (and thus time's) daily hold on me - except during a staycation. I miss analog clocks that allowed me to intuitively gauge time at a glance, instead of calculating exactly how many minutes are left until I have to be somewhere. Thanks for your thoughtful pondering on time - you'll have me thinking about it for days to come - and looking forward to your new song!

  • Tara Novak
    Tara Novak
    Jan 18 2022 8:56 PM
    Hi Marcia, how interesting your thoughts on analog clocks and "intuitively gauging" time - I recently just bought an analog clock for my new bedroom alarm (and moved my smartphone officially OUT of the bedroom!). And yes... even with the rigidity of "analog time", it still was more forgiving (and perhaps less stress-inducing) than our current "digital time". Looking forward to sharing my new song with you! T x

    Hi Marcia, how interesting your thoughts on analog clocks and "intuitively gauging" time - I recently just bought an analog clock for my new bedroom alarm (and moved my smartphone officially OUT of the bedroom!). And yes... even with the rigidity of "analog time", it still was more forgiving (and perhaps less stress-inducing) than our current "digital time".
    Looking forward to sharing my new song with you! T x

  • jeff
    jeff the emerald city
    Jan 20 2022 2:54 PM
    yes! we've constructed a world that is efficient — and disconnected to nature. sometimes on the weekends or on a retreat, i really let go of time. then the world moves in a very different way. LOVE this post. thanks for sharing...

    yes! we've constructed a world that is efficient — and disconnected to nature. sometimes on the weekends or on a retreat, i really let go of time. then the world moves in a very different way. LOVE this post. thanks for sharing...

  • gail
    gail Hancock NH
    Jan 24 2022 8:30 AM
    I enjoyed your blog as well, as I sit here with a quietly ticking clock in my kitchen that I rarely actually hear... A peaceful reading it is, as I sit looking out over the white meadows of the new day. You know a normal winter day with ice on the trees, when I can step outside and hear the sound of the cows mooing off in the distance living in their hours of light. Certainly you have given me a fresh & new prospective on "time."

    I enjoyed your blog as well, as I sit here with a quietly ticking clock in my kitchen that I rarely actually hear...
    A peaceful reading it is, as I sit looking out over the white meadows of the new day.
    You know a normal winter day with ice on the trees,
    when I can step outside and hear the sound of the cows mooing off in the distance living in their hours of light.
    Certainly you have given me a fresh & new prospective on "time."

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