At 6:59, time stood still.
I was staring at the kitchen clock, waiting for the digits to shift. It’s just a minute, right? Yet, the static numbers hung there, suspended, as if the universe had paused to catch its breath. A bunch of seconds felt like infinite.
Then the clock changed to 7:00. I turned to my screen, began to write, and the minutes dissolved. A glance back, and an entire chunk of time had vanished without a trace as if the universe had gone back to its usual speed.
It made me realise that attention isn’t just a passive lens through which we view the world.
It is a magnifying glass.
Whatever we shine it upon expands. Point it at a waiting clock, and a single minute grows as wide as an ocean. Point it at a blank page, and it empties your mind. Point it at a person, and they become your universe. Focus completely on the road ahead, and the world around you slows down.
We often complain that time moves too fast, or that our days slip through our fingers like fine sand. But perhaps time isn’t escaping us; perhaps we are simply letting our magnifying glass rest on the wrong things. When we scatter our focus across the noise, the clutter, or the endless ticking of internal clocks, we magnify anxiety and routine. But when we anchor our gaze intentionally on what brings depth, meaning, and presence, then the world responds in kind.
Attention is our most intimate currency.
Where we spend it determines the shape, texture, and size of the reality we inhabit.
“To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.” — Mary Oliver
What can I say, you’re on a roll. Or maybe I’m just paying attention😊