Time Balm

Time Balm

I've written a lot about the subjects of time and pain. For some reason I am always contemplating about these things. It'll surely pass, someday. At the meantime, please bear with my morbid obsessions.

Mention about time, we start looking at our watches and a feeling of panic seizes us. Time and tide waits for no one, we are told. Somehow we feel like we are always fighting a losing battle against it. We can't seem to be able to counter the swift currents of time--we are swept away helplessly like driftwood. And we talk about people's faces being "ravaged by time".

For a change, let's look at time from a different perspective. Let's change the paradigm and try to look at its positive aspects: One useful aspect of time, I think, is in healing pain--especially emotional pain, which is the most difficult to overcome.

All processes of nature happen in space and time. In physics, space and time are not treated very differently--they exist in a mathematical continuum called "space-time".

Molecules of perfume released in the air diffuse, spreading over space, causing its scent to slowly disappear. A drop of ink, released into a pool of clear water, dissolves; its tint, no longer perceptible.

Pain can never be eliminated instantly. Pain heals over time, like how ink dissolves in water or perfume dissipates in air. The currents of time washes away pain. Time is the great dissolver of sorrows. When we decide to let go of our pain, time sweeps it away. Some pains are thick, sticky and stubborn. That's fine. Dip it in time: time dissipates, disperses and decomposes.

The torrents of time are strong and swift--it can even "ravage faces". Let it for once, work to our advantage.

We are often told to forget our pains. This is a hard thing to do. The problem is, we treat the act of forgetting as an active task and a deliberate state of mind that we have to strive to achieve. The harder we try, the more difficult it is for us to forget. We end up intensifying the pain.

Other times, it's we ourselves who don't want to let go of our pain because it justifies and propels our personal sins and selfish motives. A bit of dirt gathers even more dirt. We end up grubbier than ever.

Forgetting pain should be like stepping into a warm shower: Relax, let go, and let the healing waters of time run over one's soul. One should emerge from it cleansed, purified and rejuvenated. And hopefully, smelling like a baby too.

Nature is self-healing. Time, its magical balm. Time to heal.