18 Comments
User's avatar
Martin Hughes's avatar

The before and after, indeed. And the liminal space throughout.

Wonderful, as ever, including the spider perspective. I love how that looks, interacting with your creation... A collaborator.

The watch on my wrist remains at GMT for now. Like an experiment, allowing me to live in two timezones.

Expand full comment
Samantha Clark's avatar

Yes we have a range of time options at home here too! Some things, like the oven, never get updated as every power cut resets it anyway.

Expand full comment
The Tao of Biscuits's avatar

I honestly can't decide whether I prefer to listen to, or to read your essays. I usually end up reading along your audio! This brings me back to happy childhood times. 🥰

Expand full comment
Samantha Clark's avatar

I'm so glad you enjoy listening - I don't do anything fancy, just record a voice note, but I'm delighted to hear you appreciate it!

Expand full comment
Cathie Cummins's avatar

Here in eastern Australia we are about to end our daylight saving, at last. The mornings have been dark for too long. I mock time with my red Mickey Mouse wall clock. His chunky yellow feet and hands cause confusion, pointing to the hours! I love the connection to your northern land's light and what your eye reveals on canvas of all things water! 💖

Expand full comment
Samantha Clark's avatar

You remind me that I used to have a Mickey Mouse alarm clock, ticking by my bed, when I was a child! Remember alarm clocks? ...time before smartphones...

Expand full comment
Margaret O'Brien's avatar

A lovely and thoughtful post yet again Samantha. I seem to be fated to miss your Life Raft sessions on Wednesday afternoons. But I did set seed potatoes this morning - something that will teach me about wonder and mystery and necessary time in the dark before reaching towards the light.

Expand full comment
Samantha Clark's avatar

We miss you! Our tatties not yet in the ground with the soil still holding winter’s cold, but they’re chitting nicely on the windowsill ready to go in soon!

Expand full comment
Carmine Hazelwood's avatar

I am intrigued by "Apparently time passes faster on a mountaintop than it does at sea level, where time is denser and passes more slowly. Any large mass slows time down around itself." Does this mean our subjective perception of how much time has passed will be different, or does it mean something more literal, I wonder?

Thank you for exploring the subject of "flow state" and its necessary pre-conditions. Both "moderately challenging" and "of our choosing" cannot be ignored. x

Expand full comment
Samantha Clark's avatar

Well this is where it gets too noodly for my brain to cope! I recommend reading Carlo Rovelli The Order of Time, as he actually knows what he’s talking about! It’s beautifully written.

Expand full comment
Carmine Hazelwood's avatar

My brain needs a challenging workout, I will give it a go. :-)

Expand full comment
Baird Brightman's avatar

"Eternity isn’t some later time. Eternity isn’t even a long time. Eternity has nothing to do with time. Eternity is that dimension of here and now that all thinking in temporal terms cuts off. The experience of eternity right here and now, in all things, whether thought of as good or as evil, is the function of life." -- Joseph Campbell

Expand full comment
Samantha Clark's avatar

Wonderful! Thank you Baird.

Expand full comment
J. Paul Moore's avatar

I love this! I vividly remember so many times in my past (hurried lifestyle) when I needed to adhere to a strict schedule and missed many opportunities to linger and spend more time talking with a friend or to stay longer to witness something beautiful in nature. My heart so wants to live by Kairos time.

Expand full comment
Samantha Clark's avatar

So true - nature always reminds us of Kairos, even as the days pass in Chronos.

Expand full comment
Harriet Grae's avatar

Thank you, Samantha. I love the simple clarity here -- there is no single now, but there is before and after. And teasing apart the different types of time-bending: in the sea, in unstructured time to ourselves, and in focused attention on creative pursuits. I, too, have very different experiences of time in these different states of being.

Expand full comment
Lindsay Johnstone's avatar

I really enjoyed this morning's post, listening on my morning stomp in Queens Park in Glasgow. Particularly what you reflect on when it comes to the way that choosing to master something moderately challenging with ours is a gentle act of rebellion. Thanks, Sam. Lots to consider and love learning about the different experiences of time at altitude and sea level.

Expand full comment
Samantha Clark's avatar

Thanks Lindsay! Time is mind-bending, no...?

Expand full comment