Too much to do, too many places to be, too little time to do it all. It’s like our national anthem.<\/p>\n
In all areas of our life\u2014home, work, school\u2014we are increasingly imprisoned by the perception that time is a scarce and limited resource. We rush from one commitment or activity to another and believe that we haven\u2019t a minute to spare. We yearn for more time, yet we often feel anxious and guilty when idle.<\/p>\n
Is this how life is supposed to be?
\nNo! Nor does it have to be.
\nBut until we change our relationship to time, our lives will continue to speed away from us\u2014at enormous cost to our health and to direct experience of ourselves and the world around us.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no issue, no aspect of human life, that exceeds this in importance,\u201d says Jacob Needleman, author of Time and the Soul. \u201cThe destruction of time is literally the destruction of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
When we learn to shift time, our relationships become more rewarding, our time spent alone is richer, our aging is more satisfying, our work is more fruitful and our stress and anxiety are less paralyzing, or even nonexistent.<\/p>\n
To allow time to \u201cbreathe\u201d more in your life, try some or all of the following suggestions from Stephan Rechtschaffen, author of Timeshifting, as well as others. See if your reservoir of time starts to refill.<\/p>\n
Pause.<\/strong> Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Han suggests taking a deep breath before answering the phone. Other conscious pauses throughout the Carve out idle time alone.<\/strong> Greek philosopher Aristotle noted that \u201cnature requires us not only to be able to work well but also to idle well.\u201d Just because you\u2019re not doing anything doesn\u2019t mean that nothing\u2019s getting done!<\/p>\n Live<\/strong> as fully as possible in the present moment. When we leave behind thoughts of the past or future, we can experience time more peacefully, says Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now.<\/p>\n Toss your schedule whenever you can<\/strong>. Even better, schedule spontaneous time and then surprise yourself.<\/p>\n Examine underlying reasons for your busyness.<\/strong> What emotions would you experience if you weren\u2019t so busy? What would you wish for? Emotional work is challenging but essential if we are to stop running from our hearts.<\/p>\n Play.<\/strong> Whether you sing, wrestle, paint, shake your bootie\u2014whatever\u2014 play helps us to step outside of ordinary time.<\/p>\n Create time retreats.<\/strong> Once a year or so, choose to do something for a week or more that allows you to shift into a different rhythm\u2014something where you can just \u201cbe\u201d without the need for doing anything.<\/p>\n Spend time in nature.<\/strong> We can\u2019t help but slow down in nature\u2019s unhurried pace. Watching a soaring bird or examining a flower can seem to stretch a minute into an hour. Too much to do, too many places to be, too little time to do it all. It’s like our national anthem. In all areas of our life\u2014home, work, school\u2014we are increasingly imprisoned by the perception that time is a scarce and limited resource. We rush from one commitment or activity to another and believe that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17,30],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.drilonatobin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.drilonatobin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.drilonatobin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.drilonatobin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.drilonatobin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.drilonatobin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":354,"href":"http:\/\/www.drilonatobin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352\/revisions\/354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.drilonatobin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.drilonatobin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.drilonatobin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nday\u2014a moment of silence before each meal, sitting in the car a few minutes before entering the house after work\u2014help us to \u201ccome home\u201d to ourselves. Our spacious selves.<\/p>\n
\nWe can learn to experience time more purposefully and meaningfully\u2014 so that it\u2019s not an enemy robbing us of the joy of life. We needn\u2019t be at time\u2019s mercy. When we change our awareness, we can actually experience the gifts of time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"