Mindfulness

Killing Time

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The idea of killing time is representative of the Western mentality, antithetical to the ideal of mindfulness.

Of course killing time is just a phrase, but when we stop to think about the psychology for a moment we see that it’s a hostile, combative phrase. It sets up two opposing camps, you and the period of time you’ve decided you’d be better off without, and the solution is to obliterate your adversary.

Underlying all of this is that expectant attitude that doesn’t think the present is good enough as it is, the attitude that always looks towards the future, waiting for this or that variable to fall into place before the real living can start.

Mindfulness asks you to come fully to the present moment rather than escaping to the past or the future, to stop placing value judgments on whether your current situation is good enough because actually it already abounds with wonders that are accessible to you right now.

Replace the idea of killing time with embracing time, because to use some more Western parlance, time is our most precious commodity. It’s a real shame to devalue most of it, to let the majority of it slip away just because this or that condition has not yet been met.