Time Quiet Stopping

Why do so many of us believe we have no time?  Isn’t this interesting?  Think of your usual week.  Isn’t it true that it seems to fly away; that at the end, you find that you have not stopped for one moment; that you never have enough time for yourself; never time for all the things you wished you had accomplished?

And the upcoming week will pass again in a flash.  After enough years like this, most of us will become hardened to this endless rush of running here and there.  We will just endure it because “life is so complex and busy” and throw up our hands and not ask if there is any other possibility.

This month I will have been teaching Alexander’s work for 32 years.  TIME has become something I no longer struggle to dominate.  I looked back over the years and wanted to write about how this happened to me, because I now find every day very full and productive.  My days seem to fly by, very slowly.

This busy, high-tech world has actually made us all much more rushed than ever.  The emails, texting, and connectivity that are part of our daily life, are necessary to cope with the workplace and family.  Most of us must have a cell phone.  Most children must have one as well, if only for emergency.  So how in the devil can we learn to STOP and BECOME QUIET?  Given the rapid pace of “today,” the idea of taking time just to STOP may seem impossible.  Vacations are usually not much help because work follows us there too.  And even when it does not, we don’t seem to really rest much, do we?

Alexander lie-downs are such a big part of stopping, of coming into a quiet that will make the day go slower because your inner pace is no longer so frantic, so jarred by the non-stop, never-ending rush of the world.  If you can discipline yourself to really take that lie-down and give your directions in the order F.M. outlines in his books, refusing to mind-wander, you will start to reap benefits very soon.  Try to work up to two lie-downs every other day, one lie-down on alternate days.  Learn slowly to STOP.

This may be against all your prior habits in relation to TIME, but you will gain self-possession and poise.  Your days will become more productive and will seem slower.  You will reduce your stress and you will get more done.  What do you have to lose?  Give it a full 90 days and just see the results.  The more time you take, the more time you have.