What Time is It?

Do you find some days so filled you feel it throughout your body? I certainly do. Edginess, a mild upset stomach or general aches remind me I've forgotten to do something important. They tell me I've failed to include “being” time in my schedule.
 
Being time is a period when you, at least momentarily, free yourself from worries, responsibilities, or that need to know feeling (especially news) long enough to enjoy being alive. The time spent need only be a few minutes.
 
Our increasingly cybernetic world is producing gobs of people walking around with cell phones perched  on an ear. I see folks consuming a fast food meal without ever relinquishing time on a cell phone or pecking on a keyboard. Conversing face to face with companions over a meal seems at risk of becoming a lost art. Many of us feel compelled to constantly tune in to the great “out there” through radios, TVs and on-line resources. But... there is a price for this behavior. Physicians tell us this new lifestyle is producing large  numbers of people with physical and mental stress related illnesses.
 
Until now, some stress was viewed positively. After all, stress is the mechanism our body uses to prepare us for dealing with danger. We have glands that release chemicals such adrenalin that supply emergency energy in the face of a threat. Our brain diverts blood from other parts of the body to muscle groups to make them ready to repel any attack. These behaviors were helpful when our ancestors had to physically fend off hungry predators or marauding tribesmen. They are less helpful today when stressors are mental more than physical.
 
The down side of the stress response is the fact it raises havoc with our bodies. Unneeded adrenalin puts pressure on our heart. Diverting blood from the digestive system to muscle groups causes unprocessed food to rot creating digestive maladies. Blood diverted from the brain to muscles impairs our thinking ability. Systems that were so valuable in primitive times, today set us up for illness. Fortunately, there is an antidote. It's called “being” time.  
 
Being time is a period in which we place concerns and worries on hold long enough to enjoy just being alive. It is enjoying a sunny day or a beautiful sunset. It is appreciating who and what we are, what we have, and where we are going. Being time doesn’t have to last more than a few minutes.  But it must be long enough for an overstressed body to return to a more normal status. It must allow for muscles to relax, heart rhythms to slow and positive thinking to emerge.
 
In days past, aching muscles were what told us we needed to relax and we paid attention. Today much physical work done by machines.  Our inner relax alarm may thus never be noticed.
 
So, what can we do? How do we relax with a cell phone screaming in our pocket or purse? How do we unwind while facing job and home deadlines?  How do we overlook often vastly exaggerated news reports coming at us 24 hours a day from legitimate, questionable and even biased sources? 
 
The answer is to build intervals of being time into each day. It is banning electronics at mealtimes and actually talking to others. It is engaging in some form of intentional physical activity for thirty minutes or more several times a week. It is taking occasional five-minute breaks (walk to and from a coffee machine sending smiles and brief hellos to colleagues we meet along the way). It is releasing muscle stress by walking more and sitting less. Being time is consciously pausing at a workstation long enough to unclench teeth, take a few easy breaths and permit our adrenaline level to move toward normal. Being time is pausing to see good around us and remember we too are good and capable.