The Rhythm Of Life

It’s a daunting thought to relinquish one’s natural heartbeat forever. 

In one week’s time, I am due to undergo my fourth cardiac procedure in a year. This one will obliterate my natural heartbeat permanently, and consequently my life will be 100% dependant on the steady working of the electronic pacemaker device implanted in my chest. For years I have been troubled by increasingly frequent prolonged episodes of very fast irregular heart rhythm. The spectre of these has coloured and curbed my whole life and hence the medical professionals have decided that this is the best way forward for me in terms of management of the issue and improving my quality life. 

The steady tick tock of our natural heartbeat is something we take for granted and mostly don’t even notice. Much like the tick tock of the passing of time. 

 TIME… how often do we wish it could either slow down or else shoot by, depending on what we are doing and how that is making us feel? 

For me, during days of physical pain, I just want the time to hurry on in the hope that a night’s sleep and a new day will bring some relief. Yet on pain-lite days, I soak in the relative freedom this affords me and I want to bask in it and squeeze out every slow minute of joy.

Of course the reality is, there is a finite amount of minutes in each day and they pass at an unchangeable rate. But our perception of that rate can vary widely. We may lose ourselves for hours distractedly scrolling on social media. Conversely, we may be so consciously engaged in a new experience or activity that we feel alive and attentive to every aspect of it. 

The way we spend the currency of time is often determined by routine, responsibilities and repetition. Much of this is a necessity of real life. Often we travel through large parts our days in autopilot fashion, as so many of our actions and responses are well-travelled automatic neural pathways in our brains which bypass our intentionality. But too much muted-awareness in life can lead us to miss the golden nugget opportunities within a day.

A good exercise is to slow down a little and even press our inner pause button. To take time to reflect on how we are actually spending our moments and how this is serving us and others in the grander scheme of things. It gives us room to savour and steep in life’s goodness, and also to examine and (re)arrange our priorities. Oftentimes we get caught up in the hamster-wheel of life, forgetting that there are other ways, and that we can step off – even just to recharge a little. 

We can re-evaluate our choices, live accordingly, and truly, consciously seize our days!

While we have the precious gift of life, may our rhythm be one in which we flourish.

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