Time and Your State of Mind

What if I told you that the past, present, and future all happen simultaneously? I know, it sounds really "out there"—and you are probably wondering what this has to do with performance—but just bear with me for a moment.

Many scientists have sought to explain the principle of time, and there are many theories, yet what if we could understand time better by looking at the quality of our thoughts and moods? When your state of mind is high, don't the past, present, and future meld together? When your mind-set is low, doesn't time become severely fragmented as we tend to lament the past and fret about the future?

When conscious, we automatically appreciate the past and visualize the future.

To illustrate this intangible understanding, last week I had an in-depth conversation with a baseball player. He spent a couple of days with me, at first bemoaning his past season—with injuries and personal issues off the field, he was convinced that his career had been set back a year. I told him that just wasn't so; his current state of mind was simply obscuring his perception of time.

I said, "I am 100 percent certain that the events of this year are setting the stage for your future as a player. Your life situations are not meant to get in your way; they're meant to show you the way."

He looked at me inquisitively.

As his thinking slowed down and his level of consciousness rose, however, his perception of both the past and the future started to clear up. He spoke about how (since he couldn't travel with the team) he had rededicated himself to his wife and family over the previous several months. He mentioned that watching games from the team sky-box (as he recuperated) gave him a different perspective on his teammates, opponents, and the game in general. He asserted, "It's crazy, but sitting here right now, my injury kind of makes sense. I can envision how my growth as a person off the field is already contributing to my success on the field next season."

Understand time and you will live and perform unencumbered.

In other words—in this player's mind—the past, present, and future were all playing out at the same time. The events of the previous season, of course, hadn't changed. But the quality of his thinking had, and, with it, his faith grew as possibilities for his life became obvious.

My message here might sound ethereal, yet it is worth considering: As our thoughts and moods become more lucid, our past starts to make sense, we become engaged in the present, and we're able to visualize the future as if it's already occurred. So, the next time you are worrying about your previous or upcoming "season," think about this: the past, present, and future have all happened already—they're not in your control. You are truly free so you might as well just let go.