Do you ever feel time is working against you? Not enough time in the day, trying to squeeze in as much as you can, feeling under pressure and like a rat on a treadmill. Wishing there was more time to do everything you need to do. Feeling guilty, frustrated, and anxious for not accomplishing all that you hoped to? The psychological and physical pressures that we place on ourselves in trying to meet the artificial demands of a modern time schedule has been called “time sickness.” I know I ‘ve been there, but I’ve changed some of my thinking around time.
After being in a space of experiencing such “time sickness”, I decided to take “time out”. Having that space to step back and slow down provided a valuable opportunity to look at how I was choosing to spend my time and instead of trying to squeeze in as much as possible, I started to enjoy doing less in a day. I found when I allowed some space and time for myself, to do more of what I love, I felt so much more fulfilled and at peace.
The pressures of our families, our work, and relationships can make us feel like we don’t have enough time to do the things that are really important to us, and we can end up feeling unfulfilled. I’ve learned to go with the flow of life a bit more, and to align with my own natural pace that works for me.
Every now and then I slip into those old habits and find myself rushing around and in that squeeze space again. At those times I have to consciously reset, and to allow the space I need, to spend more time doing what I love, and to get quiet and centered so the symptoms of time sickness lessen and give way to an easy and focused attention for meeting my daily demands without the stress and anxiety.
If you feel time is working against you, your thinking has been conditioned to be that way. You can change your mindset by examining your beliefs around time, how that seeps into your emotions and how you see each day.
Change the culture of scarcity, of not enough to go around, that includes money time and love. Look at them instead as a resource to be shared, and focus on abundance.
What we focus on expands –
What you have and who you are is enough.
“Step out of time” by doing something you love, that totally absorbs you. Think of those things that work for you, such as meditating, walking in nature, or playing with children and bring those into play more often.
Take time to get quiet and centered, spend time with what works for you – meditating, journaling or writing will help you be more efficient, effective, satisfied and in touch.
Take a moment each day to hit pause, breathe, and feel your heart centre. Change your pace to match what suits for you, do one task at a time, and reduce your workload.
Stay more in the present moment. Choose from love, excitement, insight, creativity, joy, awe, inner peace, beauty, and inspiration, whichever of these mean the most to you, and make them part of your everyday awareness.
Our mind can resist the here and now and will try to take us into the past or the future. With meditation and other practices like conscious breathing or yoga, we become more aware of our mind’s habit of distraction and gradually we can become better at being more aware and in the here and now.
“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson