Tag: questioning beliefs about time

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Not Enough Time? An Unexpected Place To Find Some

The pull of everyday life can seem *crazy* busy, right?

Common cries of most people are thoughts like these:

  • we’ve got only 15 minutes to get lunch made, kids loaded, breakfast eaten, and get to school on time—-HURRY!
  • I have 102 emails in my Inbox and they need replies
  • my job takes such a huge chunk out of my day, how will I ever have time for meditation, journaling, healing my thoughts, doing The Work, becoming enlightened
  • there are so many requests or demands for my time
  • it would be selfish to focus on myself, or too expensive to focus on myself (I would need to spend money)
  • there’s always something! I “have to” go to the store, do laundry, write, get my project finished, fix something that broke, put out a fire
The underlying view: I DON’T HAVE ENOUGH TIME!!!!!
Such a good one for inquiry.
First…..are you sure it’s true?
OMG Yes!
If I never slept, all would be well. If there were 28 hours in a day, if I could set the clock back ten years, if, if, if…..
You know what that thought feels like when you think it.
You run lists.
Your heart beats fast, you get all squeezed and wound up tight tight tight.
You imagine what will happen if you do NOT take care of the list.
Your imagination runs wild with being late, getting fired, people being unhappy with you, losing money, having a bad future–whether its tomorrow, or your upcoming vacation.
Or, worst of all, you might never ever accomplish your greatest dreams.
They all take TIME.
And you don’t have it.
Disappointment, sadness, rage, irritation, fury, fear, anxiety.
Last night, I was in an airport after a beautiful 4 day retreat with a small group and teacher I work with these days, in a very deeply meaningful study of stillness and silence.
Early in the morning and late in the evening, outside of our small group time together every day, I wrote my Grace Notes and checked emails.
It felt easy and sweet, not a problem.
Hitting the airport, visions of my upcoming Eating Peace retreat came to mind and little to-do’s needing to happen in these final ten days before it occurs.
I need to stick this into the curriculum, get the little papers with questions on them written for that exercise, order notebooks, get a good map for our location, etc.
Although I’m mostly joyful, thrilled (its sold out) and excited to meet everyone coming to the retreat…I had to take a deep breath and remember, this is the real retreat for me, right now.
Right here, in the airport. On the road. In daily life.
If you don’t exactly get there all that easily (I remember lack-of-time freak-outs very well, and I bet you five bucks they happen again) then you are very, very normal.
Consider right now, as you take the time to read this….
….who would you be without the belief that you need more time, for anything? Without the belief running in your mind that you don’t have enough time to follow your dreams or achieve them?
Without the belief that it takes more time to awaken?
Wow. Seriously?
How could that be possible?
Just check.
Who would you be without that idea entering your mind?
“Time isn’t precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time–past and future–the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.” ~ Eckhart Tolle

Without the idea of time being necessary, I wouldn’t focus on five minutes from now. I wouldn’t build a story out of my end-of-life, I wouldn’t move into the drama of things-not-done.

I’d kick back on the airplane and close my eyes and feel the pulse of life beating in my veins and the edges of the universe in every direction.

Ha ha!

Just a small thing, no big deal.

And even while I’m doing tasks for coming events, I can remember to feel presence buzzing, now.

You can too!

Turn the thought around: It doesn’t matter what time it is or how late you are or when you get that thing done. It’s OK if you don’t finish. You don’t “have to”, no one is forcing you to do anything.

Remember how funny it is. Laugh when you start thinking you don’t have enough time.

You DO have just the exact right amount of time.

Or maybe YOU don’t have any time, it’s not in your command, so just give up and give in and show up when you do–everything exactly on time at the perfect moment.

Ahhhhhhhhh.

Love, Grace

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You Are Right On Time

I’m off in silent retreat!

Amazing technology…I can write this before I enter the retreat and you get it now.

And, how do I really know what will happen? There could be a tech glitch and what I think will happen in a few days actually won’t. There could be a surprise.

Sometimes planes don’t take off, things don’t go as we think.

No kidding, right?!?

Time…and all the ideas we have about it…is soooo crazy and fascinating.

And sometimes brutally stressful, without the ability to question what runs through your mind about “time”.

I have to plan now, I have to get ready, I have to get it done, I have to make good use of it, I’m not getting it finished, I absolutely do not have enough, I need more of it, life is too short.

These can be hard thoughts to have.

I have a wonderful friend who told me recently he can’t wait until he’s 62 so he can move himself into a retirement community, whatever place he picks where he’ll be for the rest of his life, and never have to worry about it from that point forward.

He has 11 years to wait until he’s 62!

But that was so funny (and fun) to me…since many of us don’t want to think about what’s coming in the future when it relates to retiring, declining, decaying, aging, dying.

Some of us might have the response to a friend making this kind of announcement that he’s planning too far ahead, he’s got plenty of time, and why is he so interested in moving only once-and-for-all anyway?

Over-planning, under-planning.

Lots of time, too little time.

Who would you be without the belief that there’s too much time, or too little time, when it comes to something in your life you care about deeply?

What if the story was instead that there is just the right amount of time?

Just the right amount of time with that person you once knew, just the right amount of time on that vacation, just the right amount of time struggling with your career, or being in that job, just the right amount of time waiting, just the right amount of time spent completing that project, or getting from here to there, just the right amount of time being alive on the planet?

“Confusion is when you argue with what is. When you’re perfectly clear, what is is what you want. So when you want something that’s different from what is, you can know that you’re very confused.” ~ Byron Katie

Turning thoughts about time around:

Woohoo! Planning happens, planning doesn’t happen, I get to consider planning since it’s entered my world through my friend, I can get ready, I don’t have to get ready, I don’t have to get it done, I don’t have to make good use of it, I’m not getting it finished, I’ll never get it finished, I absolutely do not have more than I have, and I don’t need more of it, life is just right however long or short it is, I write when I do, I send it out later.

“In reality, we are only ever given a moment of pain, and never more, although thought tries to project the pain into time, creating the story of ‘my past and future pain’, moving into the epic movie of ‘my lifelong struggle with pain.’ But life itself is only ever a moment, and we are always spared from time itself. Can we meet the raw life energy as it arises right now?” ~ Jeff Foster

Simply amazing, to be here spared from time.

Leaning into the life energy of this moment now.

Whether there’s a “deadline” or not, no matter what age you are, no wrong time, everything happening on time.

Much love, Grace