Befriend your time to thrive in time!
Befriend time? What does that mean? Isn’t time the thing that nips at your heels and makes you worry about keeping up?
Well, while time is absolute, concrete, and universal, you actually do have choices about how you relate to it.
When you think about time, do you embrace it as your friend? Or, at least sometimes, do you feel driven and trapped by time, as if it is your enemy? I invite you to “befriend time” by learning how to align your time choices with your values!
The choice to befriend your time is a wise one. Let’s explore why by first assimilating a fundamental, inescapable fact about time:
“Time is the heart of existence.”
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Time is the context for all of us, no matter who we are or what we do.
Everything flows from time and is contained by time. This context is both frustrating and freeing, depending on your approach. To live effectively, you must relate to time effectively!
Time is part of our universal language, and it truly is inescapable:
- Nearly everyone wears a watch.
- We have timers on many appliances, including our stoves, our computers and our VCR’s.
- Big Ben and Times Square reflect the centrality of time worldwide.
We move within larger rhythms, as well.
- Farmers gauge time by the seasons and time of day.
- All cultures honor the flow of seasons and years with special rituals.
Whether you govern your choices by clocks or by the sun, you must live within the 24 hours allotted to you each day. Time is the great equalizer in this respect. We each receive the precious gift of the same amount of time each day for every day that we live.
Once you spend time, that time is gone. There’s no way of getting it back. Lost opportunities may be replaced, but they will not be regained. Each choice you make around time sets your path in wanted or unwanted directions. There is no dress rehearsal and no instant replay, and this fact can be scary because it shows our inability to control time.
You can’t “manage time,” no matter how much you may want to. You only can manage your choices around time. You also can either approach this reality with fear or with respect. When you fear “losing time.” you might panic, procrastinate, or feel overwhelmed and thus generate more panic! Instead, truly respecting that time is irreversible can motivate you to prioritize your time choices in ways that match your value system.
Time is a commodity, so it’s important to be comfortable with your time choices. It’s helpful to replace the fear-based scarcity mentality with resolve to align your time choices with your values, both in daily choices and in your life. As you make that shift, you will generate more creative and productive time choices.
Time is neutral. It just is. There is no inherent value or value judgment around time, except for the value judgment you make about how to use your time. So I, encourage you to examine your time choices with curiosity, not judgment. You can learn to revise time choices so that they truly match your personal values. This is one of the most important steps you can take to befriend time and take charge of it’s impact on your life.
Start spending time now being aware of your time choices. Are these active or proactive? Are they driven by your life values or by pressures from others?
Let’s explore time together!
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