In my work I highlight the difference between what I call thought time and real time. Putting our attention on real time allows us to follow the progression of our body’s activity from one moment to the next. I find this useful in order to remind myself that I am always engaged in some activity, even if my mind is judging it to be unimportant or unproductive.
Thought time follows the stories and situations in our life. Because we have certain wants wrapped around certain situations, we often feel like nothing is happening, and this can throw us into states of anxiety and despair. But in reality we are always doing something, i.e., being productive, even if our individual situations are not coming to our desired outcomes.
In real time we can see that we are always moving and acting because if one is alive it is impossible to not be in a state of activity. Real life is linear and coordinates with the progression of the clock. Because we can always only be doing the thing we are doing (once we are doing it) our action in each moment is the correct one, as it is the only one physically possible for that given time.
Seeing our life in real time is reassuring. Since our body never stops moving, even if our activity is simply lying down, sleeping, or sitting and thinking, the state of being (being alive that is) is inherently a state of action. This action is physical and therefore more real than whatever our mind wishes we were doing. Though it may not be more satisfying, it is more actual.
Getting attached to reality feels emotionally safer to me than grounding myself in fantasy as seeing life as it is removes confusion about what I can rely on.
Jill Eng 