Do you find that
you’re always trying to “beat the clock” to “save time”? But did you ever
ask yourself what you are saving it for? People say, “Time flies when
you’re having fun.” But when you’re having a good time you don’t really
worry about saving time, do you? And they say that “time heals all
wounds” when enough of it has passed. So time is clearly a subjective,
psychological experience. I’ve learned a great deal about myself
spiritually by studying my relationship to time as a spiritual practice
and using it more consciously.
How can we make
time our friend, rather than an enemy we have to beat? How can we
fill it with magic and meaning, rather than with stress? Can we see time
as a clarifier of values, rather than as a taskmaster or an obstacle to
overcome?
Many of us have
a scarcity consciousness around time—there’s only 24 hours in the day, we
say. Is our sense of accomplishment based on how many things we can get
done in a given day--or is it based on the joy we experience each day and
how much we’ve grown spiritually or helped others in some way?
I’ve found that time management is
not about getting more things done or being busy. It’s about prioritizing
what’s important—what our heart values. Many people put off what’s most
important to them in order to get all the other stuff out of the way
first. Then they never have time for what’s really important. But how many
people on their deathbed say, “I wish I had spent more time at the
office?” Most people say they wish they had spent more time with family,
friends, or their spiritual practice.
Time management
is essentially self-management and self-discipline. Unconscious, habitual
behavior actually consumes a great deal of our time, so becoming more
aware of our patterns and how much time they take can make a big
difference.
I’d like to
explore our relationship to time from several perspectives: how to slow
down, simplify and focus; how to use time as a mirror for understanding
your values and relationships; how consciousness affects our experience of
past, present and future; and how to relieve time stress.
Slowing
Down, Simplifying and Focusing
Can you
overcome the modern addiction to the adrenaline rush of urgency? I find
it really helps to eliminate an obsession with busy-ness as a way to feel
important. Here’s a few things that you might find helpful:
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Simplify your life and release some activities, as
less can be more—more quality, more fulfillment. |
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Focus on essentials--on your values and purpose,
and put first things first. When you focus on the results you want to
achieve, rather than on activities you are doing, you’ll accomplish
more. Ask yourself what you hope to achieve with each activity.
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Prioritize important activities that may not need
to get done immediately, but are quality of life issues that are key to
your purpose and goals. |
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Don’t respond to urgent activities that may demand
your attention when they don’t relate to your goals or help you make a
significant contribution to the world. |
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Write down your long-term goals and post them
where you can see them constantly. |
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Avoid multi-tasking and scattering your focus.
This usually results in a much reduced quality of life—and tasks not
getting done well. And it’s really disrespectful of people when you
don’t give them your full attention or have to ask them to repeat
things. |
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Allow time for the unexpected, such as a traffic
jam or a printer running out of ink when you’re trying to finish a
project. Flexibility is the key to a less stressful life.
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You also might
want to enjoy the pleasure of a slow walk, whether in town or out on a
country road. I noticed that it makes me feel like I’m on vacation when I
move slowly. There’s now a “slow food movement” in Europe (instead of
“fast food”) encouraging people to take time to savor a good meal, and
it’s beginning to catch on in the U.S.
Time as a
Mirror for Values and Relationships
How we relate
to time can tell us a lot about our values and our relationships with
people. Ask yourself in the last month, when did you say, “I don’t have
time for this”? What type of activity or people were involved? Then
reflect on when in the last month did you say, “I’ll make time for this”?
See what patterns in values or relationships emerge.
Another
exercise is to notice who keeps whom waiting and what it says about the
power dynamic in the relationship. In Washington, D.C. where I lived for
many years, this was a practiced art, as people are obsessive about
measuring their power and status. Who are you willing to wait for if
they’re late—and how long are you willing to wait? Do you know some
people who are always late? How many of us are usually five or ten
minutes late for everything? Consistent lateness reflects our
unwillingness to surrender our will to social agreements with others. When
we honor agreements about time with people, we show respect and build
better relationships.
When we’re impatient and want something
urgently, could it be a subtle demand that other people fit their
priorities in with ours?
It’s also
helpful to notice “rhythmic entrainment”--how our rhythms fall into
synchronicity with others. Two out of sync pendulum clocks put side by
side will start ticking in rhythm. Nature likes harmonization, and we as
humans also fall into rhythm with each other. Primitive societies used
drums and dancing to get people into rhythm with each other. When we’re
in a busy room, or even a busy city like New York, do we find ourselves
moving and talking faster? And what happens to our sense of time when
we’re in a mellow, laid-back environment such as a small town in the
countryside or a place like Hawaii?
Consciousness and the Experience of Past, Present and Future
Time is actually an illusion
produced by a succession of states of consciousness.
Time seems to go faster or slower depending on our state of
consciousness. If we are in a higher state of consciousness, we can
become detached from events and see the "big picture" or we can "zoom in"
on specific events. We can see the causes of events, think more clearly
and accomplish more in less time, because we synthesize. The closer in
consciousness we are to an event (the more involved), the less we see of
it. The more detached we are from it, the more we see of its
wholeness--past, present and future. This is the significance of the
"witness or observer" consciousness.
All the opposites come from cutting time up into sequences, and not seeing
the whole. Good eventually comes from evil, if we can see the whole
picture.
When we are in higher consciousness, our vibration speeds up, energy is
released and we process change more quickly. Higher states of
consciousness use subtler (lighter or quicker) energy to process
experiences faster, thus handling physical change much quicker than lower
states. Higher states "eat" time at a faster rate and so time seems to fly
by and expand. Lower states of consciousness use denser and slower
energies to process experiences more slowly, thus giving the experience of
time passing slowly.
Accepting an experience, no matter how unpleasant, speeds the processing
rate; resisting an experience slows the processing rate. The higher the
consciousness, the more expansive and inclusive of past and future.
Resistance to the past creates detriment, while acceptance can empower the
future. The greater our ability to include and learn from the past, the
more optimal will be our potential future, as we harvest lessons from the
past.
If you speed up
your consciousness--thinking more clearly and synthetically, seeing the
big picture, the larger context, you can make better choices and be more
efficient.
Follow your
intuition and inner guidance about right timing—in order to not miss
important opportunities. By studying synchronicity--an alignment of
events in time—you can recognize an important relationship.
The ancient Greeks referred to Chronos as the linear measure of
change, or what we’d call clock time. Kairos is spherical time,
beingness time, the eternal moment, when we are in the rhythm of divine
life force and higher consciousness. We can learn to be fully present in
the now (Kairos) by practicing mindfulness--identifying as the
observer or witness, the eternal soul within us, which is beyond time. We
need to avoid living exclusively through memory and anticipation—desiring
either the past or the future—and instead be in the present. Notice that
everything we see in the world is a result of past thoughts and actions
and thus is an effect, not a cause.
It’s helpful to
surrender any inner resistance to the present moment. Accept the present
moment fully as it is, without labeling or judging, as if it was chosen.
Be totally present in the moment, alert and awake, giving each thing you
do your full attention. Notice when you are not present – for that will
bring you into the present. Give more attention to how you are
doing something, rather than what you are doing and wanting to
achieve.
You can also be
more effective in your use of time by going with the flow of cycles.
There is a time for everything, as noted in the wisdom of the Bible and
in the Chinese I Ching, as well as in modern “bio-rhythm” mapping
that studies a person’s physical, emotional and mental cycles.
Techniques
for Reducing Stress and Being More Fully in the Present
Here are some
practical tips for relating to time in a different way when you feel
especially harried:
