Time is the horizontal dimension of life, the surface layer of reality. Then there is the vertical dimension of depth, accessible only through the portal of the present moment. — Eckhart Tolle
I first became intensely aware of this phenomena after listening to this conversation with Jenny Odell on the Emergence Magazine podcast. I was fascinated with the question Jenny asks, “What other kinds of time” and so began my journey with time this year… seeking what other kinds of time and especially vertical time! My main focus this year is to find the access point that takes me from the horizontal dimension of time… the time of the clock and the calendar to that magical moment when passing time seems to stand still!
I want to point out that this is not a moment where you think “will this day ever end” or “why is this day dragging on” or the “I’m so bored” moments but rather those moments where are no longer thinking of time… you are absorbed into the moment you are in and time fades from your mind.
One place that instantly finds vertical time, at least for me, is Presque Isle State Park… it is almost as if just entering begins to deconstruct time’s structure. But where else could I find that same phenomena?
I was fortunate to have LOTS of vertical time earlier this month when we were in Erie. But could I find pockets of vertical time at home?
I started from my “baseline” of seeking “vertical time” – meditation. Although when I began my meditation process a long time ago, I had not a thought of vertical time… rather, I wanted to find a way to find calm, to find quiet, to find a connection with myself. But years in, I am still not a meditation master… I can meditate for 15-ish minutes and then my brain is niggling me to “find something else to do.” And… in all honesty… I am well aware of the time passing as I meditate. This hurdle is why I began to include poetry and journaling to my meditation time and by making that change has moved my “meditation” time from the struggle to 15 minutes to something that is not a struggle at all… before I know it 30 to 45 minutes have ticked past without any awareness at all. A small pocket of vertical time in my day!
Of course, knitting can do this but perhaps not in the best way… as in I can completely tune out of everything when I am knitting… which is not always a good thing. Don’t ask me what we watched on TV (perhaps that is part of the problem, lol) and for sure don’t try and have an in-depth discussion with me! But what about spinning? In the course of my 100 Day project, I put away my spinning… but now that I am done, I think I need to get it back out because spinning is another one of those activities that melts time away… but I stay very engaged in the activity of spinning… and it absolutely has a meditative quality to it!
I mentioned poetry and writing already… but my “new-ish” habit of 15-ish minutes of drawing/painting is going quite well… I am blowing past those 15 minutes and before I know it time has “gotten away from me.” And I am having such fun… that seems to happen when I step through the vertical time portal!
But as I said… this concept was really the focus of my time study this year. I am excited to continue to look for pockets of vertical time in my day!
As always, I really appreciate Carolyn holding a space for us each month. Stop by and see where the other “worders” journeyed with their word this month!
See you all back here tomorrow with some Unraveling!
Oh how I love the concept of a vertical time portal!! I have ALWAYS found that when I am in nature – whether hiking on the Long Trail as a kid…or older, going for a walk, just sitting in a pine forest listening to the sounds of nature. Of course, I also find it when I stitch or knit. Even when I cook – especially if my friend Leslie and I are cooking together. I’m betting there are more vertical time slots in our days than we realize!
This intrigues me, Kat. I’m thinking about Flow, and what puts me there. That just-right ratio of challenge : skills. (Punch needling did it for me, recently.) But what you say about Presque Isle — that kind of slowing — holds a magic all its own. Makes me think of times I’m walking and talking, or cooking with Troy, and I’ll glimpse a colorful combo of lichen near the trail or a new bird out my window. Nature stops the clock, interrupts time and talk and task. What resembles attention deficit is actually passage through your ‘portal of the present moment’! And maybe paying attention, noticing, is the ticket for entry?
What a rich take time on time this month. ♥
What you describe as vertical time sounds like flow to me — where you are so focused on whatever you are doing that you cease to notice the world moving around you. Those moments are always so fulfilling, too! I hope you’re able to find more of them.
This is an interesting concept and one that’s relatively new to me. I can most easily enter into this sort of time when I’m knitting, and if the book is really immersive, it happens when I’m reading also. Most of the rest of the day I’m too aware of clock time and what I think I need to do next, so I may have to “practice” with this a bit.
Vertical time is a fascinating but elusive experience. I enjoy following along with your musings about time. Also I’m nodding along with poetry and journaling added to meditation.
That is exactly what I think of . . . flow . . . those activities that help us transcend the ticking of the clock. I find that nothing works better for me than . . . painting/drawing . . . but only when I’m letting myself just relax into the process. It’s a wonderful thing! XO
I lose time when I’m knitting or creating or journaling. I remember when I thought walking was a chore now it’s what I seek out daily and I unwind. I meditate daily and sometimes I’m in the zone and sometimes I’m not.
I think I have spent the last two months in vertical time. The days have just vanished. Seriously though time in the garden just goes. I think I’ve been out for half an hour and it’s actually hours. I think the concept of time is really rather wonderful. Trying to measure something that just is. If we ditched time and just went with the weather and seasons, how much easier life could be.