Time is malleable

 Are you feeling short of time? Caught up in the “I can’t believe it's almost the end of the year” slippery slope? Stressed out about getting everything done?

You can try to move faster, whittle your to-do list, and/or “work harder”....or you can change time.

Time appears to be a linear concept; there are 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week etc. But our language about time tells us this is not the whole truth. “Time flew by.” “The minutes crawled by.” “I totally lost track of time - I don’t know where the hours went.” “It seemed this day would never end.”

I am willing to bet that you have had experiences where you were so immersed in what you were doing that linear time ceased to exist. (And, in truth, quantum physics shows us that linear time is in fact an illusion - but that is a conversation for another day.)

The antidote to feeling short of time is to expand it. Yes, this is the realm of meditation and other mindfulness practices, and I encourage you to explore these approaches, but there are very simple ways to experiment with this concept right now. Especially when you feel too busy.

• Do one thing at a time.
• Decide to be as present as possible in the moments that matter the most to you and can’t be reclaimed later.
• Engage more in your “time out of time” activities: art, music, prayer, sports, cooking, puzzles - whatever you do that allows you to forget about time.
• Do a simple time reset: Close your eyes. Take 3 slow, long deep breaths. Feel the sensation of your body sitting on the chair or couch, your feet in your shoes, the air on your skin. Open your eyes and take a few breath cycles to drink in all that you see in front of you.

Time scarcity creates stress. Expanding time settles your nervous system. Taking the time to learn to expand time is a good use of your time.