I experienced something very profound today and it has been inspired by Serge Benhayon’s book Time. I had started a typing job on my computer and knowing that I tend to rush these ‘uninteresting and boring’ tasks, I decided to be very conscious not to speed up but to stay present with me and in what I was doing and feeling, rather than just getting the job done, no matter what.
As I proceeded I noticed that I did not have the usual self-judgment of being slow or clumsy and also, for a change, the job did not feel tedious (I am not a good typist!). Instead, my work felt open-ended, had no hard edges or annoying streaks and was totally free of pressure and the need to perform or conform – it felt as though I had all the time in the world.
At the same time and to be fair, I was just as slow as ever and made mistakes; not as many as usual though, probably because I wasn’t rushing. What I also noticed was that my output seemed to be the same, whether I would have been rushing like in the past or staying present with me and attending to every step and nuance as I was doing now.
There was a definite lack of something to rub against, get hassled by, or even be the slightest uptight about, nothing provided friction or an issue of any definition or description. All there was – was the space to do what had to be done but I hadn’t squeezed this doing into one of my usual to-do boxes and seasoned it with haste, raciness and thoughts of being too slow and nor was I sitting at my desk with physical tension or in anticipation of a fast and speedy end result.
So let me recap – the job was the same as many others before it, I had not become a better typist, my speed and accuracy had not improved.
But something was different. What had changed?
I had not set myself a deadline (strange word that, a ‘dead line’) and thus there was nothing to measure myself against. Speed had become irrelevant and I was not competing with time, trying to outdo, outsmart, outrun or even overtake it.
When the job was finished it finished at a certain time as measured by the clock, a time that would have arrived no matter what I had been doing and how I had been doing it. After all, 4pm is 4pm, regardless of how I spend the time until that time, whether I run the show from my head, rush around and work under pressure or whether I ‘take my time’ and do what needs to be done without any rushing and expectations of how fast I should be getting through this task.
The job still took as long as it took, I still made all the mistakes I made and I still finished when I did.
Would I have finished five minutes earlier had I rushed?
Maybe – but maybe not because I then need to correct more mistakes.
But more importantly – would those potential extra five minutes have given me any joy?
Actually, that is highly unlikely.
And the reason why? Because I would have felt frazzled and on edge, under pressure, physically tight and mentally highly strung.
What had happened then?
I had not put any effort into trying to get to that end point earlier or faster and in that I got to feel the true blessing of time – the revelation of time as space. And in that space, time does not matter, it is not my enemy and I don’t have to compete with it. And to top it all off – everything that needs to get done gets done.
Or, in other words, when I don’t rush, I am not slow!
Child’s play in hindsight – literally so, because as children we live in that space, we spend all our time in it. Do you remember the endless- and spaciousness of each moment, lived and experienced from and in a little body that is present with and in itself? And it certainly didn’t give a hoot about being faster or better until we learnt to conform and take on these concepts!
Well worth getting back to and repeating frequently, like the good medicine it is; good medicine for our physical and mental wellbeing as well as for our relationships and the enjoyment of the work we do, whatever it may be.
By Gabriele Conrad, Goonellabah NSW
Further Reading:
Time and Our Perception Of It
Choosing Stop Moments in My Life
Time: How I Changed my Relationship With The Invisible Tyrant
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
I loved this statement, “in other words, when I don’t rush, I am not slow!”. I’m realising in an environment where we’re sitting at a desk, I hear the clicking of keyboards and boy can I tell when people are angry, in drive or in a rush. And if we are not careful we end up in that momentum too.
I too am not the best typist and I’m often struggling to type as I spell out the words from my mind. However, when I am connected, I can feel the difference. There must be more to this as I’m often given these thoughts that I cannot write these work related emails, or that I am slow etc etc. The list is endless and if I don’t discern this, I stay caught up in this perpetuating cycle. When it kind of feels there is grander thing behind this that only needs to be tapped into and boy oh boy, the wisdom will come through, if only we allow it.
A friend recently likened the undermining thoughts to a scorpion sitting on one’s shoulder. The scorpion we would quickly flick off, so why do we entertain those thoughts? Should we not do likewise with them?
A journey away from home can feel as though it takes forever but the return journey home takes no time at all..
Space and allowing the stillness within to appreciate what it brings opens the door to understanding our relationship with time.
Rushing does guarantee that we lose our quality, hence the importance of not allowing that energy to enter.
A change in perception (and energy) can be all that is needed to be free of the constraints of time that we all can and do get caught in.
Henrietta, I agree of timelines, “deadlines” are all about time which we never have enough off. When we work in this space, it is a whole new level that feels so magnificent. Much to ponder over…
Time is such a funny concept that we can get stuck in and governed by – of course we must work with time in terms of going to work or school and being on time and handing in documents and homework etc within a given time frame etc. But when we live our lives based on time then things do lose their sparkle in a way, where as in those moments or days when we can be with what needs to be done at that moment in time, then it is like time ceases to exist and we can focus and stay tuned to what is needed and still find ‘time’ to do the other things that need to be done too. I can speak this from my experience, and yet I also must admit that I still get caught in being controlled by time when I forget to stay in the moment.
Thank you Gabriele for a gorgeous read – and one that I too can relate to in so many ways. Sometimes I find myself rushing to complete things at work so that I can rush home to be with my family, and yet when I get home I am still in that rushing mode and so I find it hard to stop and enjoy my time with them and myself! Ironic!
Wanting to get home quickly is a trap I have also fallen into – it is basically saying that I prefer an activity in the future to the one I am engaged in at present, the end effect being that both activities suffer from my lack of presence and total engagement.
Spaciousness and enjoyment go hand in hand and when we bring them to our work-place everything feels so simple.
Giving space to any situation allows us to be more open to Appreciation, and thus we automatically are allowing Intimacy to be a part of our lives, as we can not have Appreciative-ness without being Intimate with Intimacy being us letting people in and Appreciation being more than a physical thing but the understanding we are all divine vessels, and thus we can feel our bodies deepening in it’s stillness, which is all, “good medicine for our physical and mental wellbeing”, and thus evolutionary!
I recall when I was little time seemed to go on for ages. It was never like time flew buy and then as I got older with the pressures of life time seemed to change. But that is not possible because time itself is constant. Its how we are in that time that changes. Yes we have more to do as adults, but its how we are in that time that creates the perception that time has changed.
The same length of time can seem long for one and short for another; and yes, our subjective perception of time depends entirely on how we have been in a particular span of what we call time.
Rushing must be the effect of having squandered time somewhere else through getting distracted and not being connected, would that be so? And then the rushing engenders more of the same quality as we can’t be connected when we are in our head trying to make things happen.
There are times where I have thought to get everything done I need to rush and constantly watch the clock, but naturally I feel drained and tired after pushing myself in this way, sure I tick all my boxes but at what expense to my body?
It’s not worth it, in my experience. And the brief moments of elation and satisfaction do not compensate for the tiredness and lethargy that follow any drive, push and shove.
I have had some experiences lately when time appears to stand still and I all the time in the world to complete things. This brings a great sense of magic into my life.
When space reveals itself and we get those seemingly moments or stretches of time it leaves us in awe of what is possible and shows how much of what we are and the all is we do not tap into.
Love it Elizabeth – I too have experienced this, or what I call ‘time warps’ and it is like there is a stretched version of time we can work with that allows essentially more space for us to move in and do things in 😉
I have had a few of these experiences, where time appears to stand still, and they do feel very magical.
“I had not put any effort into trying to get to that end point earlier or faster and in that I got to feel the true blessing of time – the revelation of time as space.” ‘Trying’ has been the bane of my life – always trying to be better, to improve – which has got me nowhere – except criticising myself for not being enough. A little daily dose of appreciation is making a big difference to my life.
Trying, bettering ourselves and improving are traps that try to make us believe that we are faulty or deficient in some way and that we need to get somewhere, in the future and along a linear track. The Ageless Wisdom teaches that we are already everything and that the way ahead is a return to our origins.
All there was – was the space to do what had to be done but I hadn’t squeezed this doing into one of my usual to-do boxes and seasoned it with haste, raciness and thoughts of being too slow and nor was I sitting at my desk with physical tension or in anticipation of a fast and speedy end result”. This is gold as I am sure we can all relate to our to-do boxes and racing through them to tick the list. But what quality were we in and what tension/anxiousness is left in our bodies to deal with?
What’s left in the body is a rather toxic mix and not worth it; it takes too long to come back from such tension and raciness.
Agreed and I love the fact that when we don’t rush we don’t have to be slow and in fact we are often far faster when we don’t rush than when we do, provided we are there in full with what we are doing.
Rushing leads to mistakes and we can easily spend twice the amount of time rectifying them rather than according each action the space and time needed.
Yes, it seems a contradiction in terms that when we don’t rush we don’t have to be slow. Yet staying in the present moment – fully with what we are doing, seems to allow time to open up and life becomes a flow. I can then achieve far more in the same time as when I feel anxious about completing a task and feel tense and anxious with the need to rush.
Rushing feels horrible in our bodies, we can still do things without being slow, it is simply what energy are we allowing to run our bodies, and saying ‘no’ to the energy of rushing.
An interesting question is: how much do we value the time we have? Say today we have 12 hours – how are we going to use them? What are we going to do? What is actually possible in that time?
Much is possible and 12 hours can be vast and offer so much if we stay with ourselves and don’t rush ahead (from the head) into the imagined future and what we think it will bring.
Time is not the enemy when we give ourselves space.
This really highlights for me how when we have to do something we rather do it with quality than rushed and stressed as we have to do it anyway. It seems so simple but the opposite has become the norm.
Well said Lieke, there is something so settling and calming to complete things un-rushed and then move onto the next task and continue like this, to then come to having a break that actually then feels like a break rather than rush to get to the break that then feels rushed too.
Doing things in and with quality feels so much more settling to our bodies.
When we try to race against time we make time the powerful thing in the equation yet when we concentrate on what needs to be done the power is held in that movement and thus time becomes irrelevant.
Great point – we enslave ourselves and let the notion of time reign supreme rather than moving in space and living in its grace and forever enrichment.
Time is but a mental construct and a societal convention that does not do justice to the wonderment available when we move in space.
What strikes me reading this is even though on that occasion you didn’t appear to get more physically done by letting go of racing against time the change in the quality in how you did what you were doing speaks volumes.
It’s a joy to re read your blog and to feel how time still gets me now and then, time is not our enemy there need not be a competiton, but when I don’t allow space in my work or even my life that’s actually what it feels like ‘a race against time’
From this summary I can feel the utter insanity and futility of our fight with time and how much that taxes and drains us. And the whole world is caught up in it.
I agree, there is utter insanity and futility in our fight with time, and the consequences of how that drains us, so we then need stimulants to keep the loop going.
This blog puts me in mind of a door which we can open up and let Love through – or jam and shut tightly and say life is a stress ~ when the whole time, it’s just that we are pretending this space and openess just doesn’t exist.
Great illustration, but there is more – not only do we shut the door on timelessness and space, space is actually all around and right through us. And thus it could be said that there are no doors. Now how do we then manage to live in a way that sees nothing but prison walls and doors shut tight? Especially when that way takes a lot of energy and is very draining.
Deadlines are killers of space and often have us hooked into time and constraints that harm the process and the potential of the true support being offered. When we impose these rather than make them part of our rhythm we start to play games with overwhelm.
Would it be fair to say that overwhelm plays games with us, like a cat with a ball of wool? That we are its, by choice, play things, entirely at the whim and fancy of overwhelm?
Overwhelm plays games with us, and feels terrible to be caught in.
Can imagine if one of our traditional educational subjects was all about learning to work with space – we would have an amazing society – children would grow up not doubting the wonder and magic of the universe.
Is it possible that children would grow up not having to un-learn their natural and innate connection with space and reflect to the adults where we come from and are going back to?
A great point Gabriele, children naturally teach us so much about space and the universe.
Children have an innate wisdom that we can all learn from.
Perhaps then the key to ‘slowing down time’ is to open up space… If we were to focus more astutely on developing a relationship with space and all that is being communicated through it, we would not be racing against time at all. If this is so then is our obedience to time more to do with our disobedience to space and all that it offers?
Spaciousness… When we hear music that has this quality, it changes the way we listen for the rest of our lives.
Why am I not surprised that you to make a connection to music, a broad sweep all the way from a race against time to spaciousness and music. I shall be more attentive from now on, is all I can say. And report back, of course.
It is the sound of the Soul that sings deep within us all.
‘when I don’t rush, I am not slow!’ Fabulous. We think we have to rush to get things done but it is a complete illusion for in my experience we just need to a stay steady and attend to one thing at a time and its awesome how the space clears in front of us. And if things come in to potentially complicate or upset – again its about staying steady, present and connected to our hearts.
And what are we rushing for, just to get something else done in the same ‘rush’ energy which never feels good, or because, I prefer an activity in the future to the one I am engaged in at present, which feels exhausting.
I can relate to the sense of friction when rushing, and how distracting it can be rather than being fully present with what needs to be done and being more aware of the quality in which we are doing it and how this relates with everyone else as well…
“There was a definite lack of something to rub against, get hassled by, or even be the slightest uptight about, nothing provided friction or an issue of any definition or description” – this is such an accurate description and makes me wonder if this is why even when we get given enough time to complete a task, some of us leave it until the last minute and put ourselves in a position where it becomes inevitable to experience this friction and tension, and complication, which gives us a kind of identification.
Its great to feel the space we can offer ourselves – with the knowing that rushing does not actually support us, and as soon as we put the pressure of time on ourselves, everything contracts.
To feel that we are making a wise use of time, we squeeze space without realizing that only a good relationship with space helps to make a wise relationship with both ourselves and time.
I find that I am at my most productive when I don’t rush. If I have to rush I know the work will be less productive.
Yes, there is nowhere to save that apparently ‘saved time’; no bank will take such deposits and in the end, we have nothing to show for other than our raciness and the mistakes we have made.
Whenever we go into drive to complete something we push the body into a nervous tension that must be addressed at a later time, often leaving us depleted and drained afterwards.
I never have honoured the sensitivity of my body and pushed it (mis)using my nervous system to compete with time. I felt trapped in this energy, reacting on the demands of life. Only recently I discovered the delicateness of my body and the true power from this amazing quality and the choice I have, to stay in this supporting energy I am made of.
Staying with a quality of energy that supports us feels so much more lovely than ever going into rush.
‘when I don’t rush, I am not slow’ … really nails the fact that time and our perception of it are constraints that we place on ourselves, when in fact it’s about the quality of how we are in all we do no matter what and it gets done, no matter what the time.
When we don’t enslave ourselves to time, magic happens and another dimension opens up.
It is amazing how easily I can find myself looking at the clock and effectively racing against time to get everything done. I feel the anxiousness and raciness build up in my body – but for what, no real reason. What difference does it really make if I finish something at say 5 or at 5.10? And what about the quality? But the interesting thing is when I let go of time usually I finish way before 5 and then other things also get done which shows how much by working against time we are also working against ourselves. Whereas let time go and work with space and time suddenly opens up.
I have often wondered what we believe we can do with those extra two or three minutes that we have apparently saved? Bank them? Who takes these deposits? And what do we do with them? Use them to recover from our raciness?
Very true Gabriele, for me as you say I use the extra few minutes ‘to recover from our raciness’ which I just created! It makes no logical sense yet is somethign I often find myself getting caught up in. And when I do what needs to be done everythign seems to be much more in flow, like the bus is just there, the person I am meeting arrives in that moment. Otherwise so often I can rush get there ‘too soon’ and then been waiting trying to calm my body down from the rush!
Exactly; the time we have apparently ‘saved’ then needs to be spent on ‘catching one’s breath’ and overall, nothing is gained and we are left with a racy and unsettled body.
So now when I clock myself going into rush I say ok what difference does it make if say I am 1 minute late? Then when I do it I get to check in with my body do what I need to be done and usually I am then on time or the other person is running a little late as well so it would not have made any difference had I got there quicker. Which goes to show when I honour my body I am no longer fighting against time and everything works out.
I have found that as well; whenever I am just that tiny bit late, the other person is way late and everything works out. When we don’t compromise ourselves, everything just falls into place.
Very true, ‘When we don’t compromise ourselves, everything just falls into place.’ So it goes to show that we are deisgned to honour ourselves and what we feel and then when we do we also honour everyone else along the way.
In all honesty, although I don’t want to admit it – when I’m not rushing and sucked in by time I actually get things done faster.
My experience exactly – and not only that,I get the feeling that is must be later than it really is and I start looking for things to do!
There is an ease that is offered when we move out of time and stay with the steadiness in the body to allow what needs to be complete with levels of self – care and awareness.
Yes, the same is true for me.
Old habits die hard, they say and this is certainly one of them; it seems counter-intuitive that, when we don’t rush, we get things done in quality and immense space opens up to do even more. But, as they say, the proof is in the doing of and not any theory about it.
There is so much about space to discover and enjoy, I have recently had experiences of what this feels like and it has astounded me what you can get done when not attached or limited by time.
A whole new dimension opens up when we start to separate from the held notion of time as a straight line from the past via the present to the future.
So many people say – I love cooking, cleaning etc “if I have the time”. It’s interesting isn’t it because it is we who dictate whether there is space to do what needs to be done, or not.
Great sharing for I am becoming more and more aware that it is actually in the details of all the tasks that we do, including those we consider mundane, that feeds and builds the quality of and level of enjoyment in all that we do.
It would be said that life is mundane and that is why we seek both the highs and the lows; but with presence and in connection to the body, not a single moment need ever be mundane again. It is then not about the task or job but about being with oneself.
That makes sense – being in two different locations at once, in two time zones even if parallel, takes away from each task and its toll on our physical and mental health.
It makes you ponder what is happening to the bodies of people who claim, and are proud to say they can multi-task, at some point their body will start to say ‘No’ in one way or another.
When I observe young children play, they seem to have an amazing relationship with time. They never seem to rush or feel that they are running out of time, in fact they seem to live in a timeless space where they are fully present in what they do. They move with purpose, steadiness and a quality that is connected to multi-dimensionality. This is an awesome reminder of were we all come from and where we can also return to.
Children move outside of time, time is no concept for them unless it is now and right under the noses. Therefore the famous question, “are we there yet?” Children move in moments and operate in space.
Yes, that makes so much sense, thank you Gabriele. It shows how very little the truth we come from has to do with the world we have created. Or more so the other way around.
Brilliant observation Gabriele, I remember when my children where young this was exactly how they operated. I also remember feeling the tension in my body so much more as they reflected the spaciousness I was no choosing to live myself. I didn’t understand why I felt that way but now it all makes sense.
Young children at play are gorgeous to observe, their quality of energy is awesome, ‘They never seem to rush or feel that they are running out of time, in fact they seem to live in a timeless space where they are fully present in what they do.’
Which just goes to show that we all know and incorporate this quality to start with – and that the systems as they are at present then rob us of this quality, if we succumb; which the vast majority of us do.
When I was a child my nickname was Slow Coach because I liked to take my time getting dry when I got out of the bath. This has stayed with me and I often used to put pressure on myself to complete tasks as quickly as possible which often led to mistakes and frustration. it was a revelation to recognise that I had a choice and if I chose to let go of my self-imposed deadline the space opened up to allow the task to be completed often in a similar amount of time but with so much more connection to my body and so much less anxiousness which is so draining and affects how much I am able to accomplish. This has literally transformed my life, making me more productive but also much more joyful and appreciative of life and the wonders that surround us.
When we rush and are in drive, we skip moments; moments that potentially bring new awarenesses, fresh insights, a teaching or revelation. We shorten our experience and wonder, how come there never seems to be enough time. We miss out on the broad canvass and richness that are on offer.
When we rush we miss out on many aspects of life and the evolutionary process.
“it felt as though I had all the time in the world.” When we don’t feel the pressure of time we give ourselves space to complete whatever is called for.
Interesting enough – what we think needs to be completed is not necessary and what is offered is the space to bring what is needed for the ALL.
I get it – enforcing completion is for self and never is it part of the all for all even though it cannot be but be in the All.
Life seems to mostly be a rush against time, time to get things done, time to arrive, time to leave, I have been so caught in time, when i would be driving some distance i would be checking along the way what the time was and if I would be getting there on time, I decided to stop doing this and to put an end to the anxiousness I was feeling by deciding to leave home with plenty of time to not rush or become anxious, stay with my body and enjoy the space to be with me in my traveling.
Children really do have the key to returning to living as a master of life, we need to pay much more attention to there natural ways.
When I am connected and in my essence, everything is the same – a magical and heavenly expression.
” As I proceeded I noticed that I did not have the usual self-judgment of being slow or clumsy ”
Is this not wonderful the breaking down of old methods of sabotage and all by just taking YOUR time, funny.
Great example of how we are the creators of our own experience. Brings it back to choice and how we chose to move in any situation.
” the job was the same as many others before it, ”
Yes but the end product would be of a higher quality , because you took ” your ” time to do it.
It is a joy to be present with the body in whatever is being done – there is this beautiful sense of the spaciousness that we know effortlessly in our younger years. being faster or better is not a true purpose in evolution. Living our truth is.
“Do you remember the endless- and spaciousness of each moment, lived and experienced from and in a little body that is present with and in itself? And it certainly didn’t give a hoot about being faster or better until we learnt to conform and take on these concepts!”
A race against time is always a pattern of movement through which we restrict/confine ourselves to life being just what we choose to see.
In other words, we wear blinkers and choose to see what we need to see to confirm our confinement/ restriction.
It seems incomprehensible to the mind dictated by time constraints, that it is possible to move in a quality that is not slow but is without the frenzy and exhaustion of rushing about.
“when I don’t rush, I am not slow!”
Turning it around, it can be said that “when I rush, I am slow” and that is a real eye opener and awakening for the mind that dictates to the body that it needs to be seen in a certain light that garners recognition and gets to utter a few poignant sighs associated with overwork, stress and being indispensable.
Quality not quantity is the key and when we tap into the energetic quality of our own bodies rhythm and natural way to move we not only access a wealth of vitality and life but also a wisdom that universally holds us all together. A super cool blog thank you Gabriele.
I’ve spent so much of my life racing time, trying to fit in as much as I possibly could. It’s quite staggering how exhausting that is compared to being in the flow of what is needed next and not needing to complete anything but seemingly completing far more than I set out.
I know for myself, and I have a feeling that it will be the same for many others, that when I go into rush mode ie “racing against time”, to get something done within a specific time frame that it rarely gets completed in time. Why? – because in rush mode I am working ahead of myself therefore not connected to me and as a result mistakes get made and I often have to go back and do something again, and sometimes again. But when I choose to give myself the space to complete the task, work with me in each moment and not rush ahead of myself, there will be few, if any mistakes and the task gets completed in plenty of time. Rush is one word that is slowly being erased from my dictionary.
What quality do we want to grace the earth with, that of rushing and have to get things done, or one of space and being present as we complete our jobs, knowing our choice affects many people?
This is a great question Lorraine, and it makes it so clear which one to choose.
When we look up rush in Latin meaning of rush this is what I got; “stir up, disturb; discharge/hurl (missile); flow rapidly/strong current; rush; “rush; urge/rouse/agitate; enrage/inflame; spur/impel; summon/assemble; cause; jump/leap (up/on/towards), rush/dash (at/against), assault; mount (male-female);” So is it any wonder when we rush to a deadline ( as Steve gave us in his comment above; “Deadline, from the US Civil War, the line around the prisoner of war compound and the tree line, anyone caught in between was shot or safe if they could reach the tree line.”) that there are many forces you bring into play, which play havoc with us!
So could it be that to rush is any out side force that will do anything so that we will be taken away from our Soul?!!
Agreed Linda, and may I add that when we appreciate our “natural quality” we evolve.
The quality within us with which we do, or think anything is an imprint that is left behind.
This is a deeply inspiring blog to read, Gabriele. The difference in quality when we are ‘being’ in the freedom of spaciousness or ruled and limited by time constraints in the constant cycle of ‘doing’ is very clear.
“All there was – was the space to do what had to be done but I hadn’t squeezed this doing into one of my usual to-do boxes and seasoned it with haste, raciness and thoughts of being too slow and nor was I sitting at my desk with physical tension or in anticipation of a fast and speedy end result”.
It is fascinating to have real life experiences to help deliver important realisations like you have delivered in this blog, ‘when I don’t rush, I am not slow!’
Interesting to consider that as a child I indeed experienced time completely different then now in my adult life. Now time is valuable time and no time can be wasted so to say, but when I was a child I did not bothered about time, I just enjoyed the space and life in full in response of the cycles of the seasons and of day and night, time actually did not exist. It just was introduced later in my up growing up to the point where I am now, a life where much is dictated by my watch.
I absolutely loved the book Time Space and all of us – Book 1, Time by Serge Benhayon – it was totally life changing. Just this morning I completed reading Time Space and all of us – Book 2, SPACE and WOW it is beyond awesome. Can’t recommend these 2 books highly enough and look forward to the publication of book 3 “all of us”.
Deadline / Dead Line – what a great point to bring attention to the accuracy of this combination of words and the killer effect it can have if not approached with awareness.
What is the counter of Dead Line? Living Sphere?
Ditto! Nicola, the “Living-Sphere” is one you have pulled out of the spherical box.
Can’t box a living sphere!
Indeed, deadline, what is the origin of the word? But what I can sense is that it is even a further reduction of space that time had already put on it.
I am sure that these words “when I don’t rush, I am not slow” may confuse a few people and in the past, they definitely would have confused me. But now that I have come to understand more about time and space I too have discovered that when I am totally with me as I am doing something, with no imaginary finish line in place and with no expectations I find that I actually complete the task very easily and often much faster that I had suspected it would take. The difference for me is, that without the push and the rush all there is left is a wonderful feeling of spaciousness offering all the ‘time’ in the world.
You have explained this so well because you have experienced it in and from your own body; I find the phrase “when I don’t rush, I am not slow” confirmed every day, no matter how often I might fall into the trap of thinking I need to do things the old, rushed way. The spaciousness of not rushing is very precious indeed.
Or, in other words, when I don’t rush, I am not slow! love this! So important to really live.
We are all caught up in a race with time, and TV. brings it to us in huge doses as it checks us out and we feel there is no time pressure! With the digital age we can copy any show then we need not waste time so called but time always places pressure on us, because we would “have felt frazzled and on edge, under pressure, physically tight and mentally highly strung”, so we spent time checked out in TV land thinking we are fixed.
Everything we do that is in a self-loving rhythm for us, is part of our evolution, this is never a waste of space as is time wasting when in front of a screen! Screens can also be great tool as Gabriele has shared when used in service for your work.
What strikes me reading this today is how we can create unnecessary struggle, strife and distraction by seemingly fighting or racing against time and the simplicity and space that can open up if we instead bring all of ourselves to the task at hand…
Being willing to look outside the square of life and time offers new insights into the socially accepted understandings of time.
A lovely blog to read, and interesting comments of how living in space feels as opposed to living under time, and the effect this has in our lives. Very inspiring.
Interestingly enough when I am more connected and living more from my stillness time seems to expand as I am able to get more done whilst still doing the same things and giving it more attention and quality to detail. Amazing! Time expands when you are with you!
“Speed had become irrelevant and I was not competing with time, trying to outdo, outsmart, outrun or even overtake it.” And as you say the job took as long as it did. I have been experimenting with being much more purposeful – and not rushing- when I find myself running a little late. Staying present with myself somehow allows time to seemingly slow down – and I’m not late! Space has opened up on account of me being present with me.
Finding our own rhythm in life has always allowed a flow that I have always appreciated! It is almost like time stands still and we get the space to do what ever is necessary with no restraints.
I know when I am feeling overwhelmed with what I have to get done I feel I am racing against time or I am running out of time, when I stay present with myself and with the task at hand there is plenty of time and space for what needs to be done.
It is magical what happens when we stay with ourselves and in our body and don’t get ‘carried away’, i.e. carried onward and ahead of ourselves and into the imagined future by way of rushing and cramming.
When we make life about quality first we find that time comes to us instead of us chasing it, this creates space around our bodies where more of what is needed can be achieved with an imprint of truth and harmony within.
Not rushing is great medicine for my physical and mental well-being.
The body lives in moments is what Serge Benhayon has taught and I have found that to be true. Our bodies absolutely hate being rushed.
It feels like it is how we use the concept of time to change how we are with ourselves in our movement. I can totally relate to this example you share here, but also there are other times when I think the task I am engaged with is too tedious and perhaps more time consuming than what I perceive is worth and I can literally fall asleep doing that, and that feels like I am just withdrawing myself from the task in hand. So, in this instance I may not be rushing against time, but still resisting the flow and removing myself from my own movement just in a different way.
There are myriad ways in which we can deny the true movement our body is attuned to – we can do it via raciness and we can do it through apathy and boredom. Both are very draining and counter our vitality and zest for life.
I agree that dragging my feet over a task is also very draining, and it’s clearly my attitude to the task that creates the lag.
With a certain attitude, all doors shut and the work is twice as hard, if not many times harder.
The more I try to control how much I get done, going into a rush or stress around it, the less efficient I become. Some days I am amazed at how much space I feel stretch out in front of me, and how much I can get done when I stay in what feels like the rhythm and flow of the day.
Cramming and rushing are the antithesis of spaciousness and flow.
Yes and the difference between feeling yourself running to ‘time’ (as a constraint and pressure) or ‘space’ (as an open-ended connection with everything)
An ex-pert is a drip under pressure, an astro-naught has no-space and creating time comes about by starting with at-least being gentle as is taught by the Gentle Breath Meditation, which could be described as a feeling-of-space within the body!
Us vs them, me against you, teams fighting teams, against all of the odds – our world is full of ways we describe life as a big battle. Is it any wonder that whilst we may not being bombed, we still feel like we are at war in the end? For when we proceed with this habit of seeing life as a race, we fight against our natural grace. We keep thinking of clever ways we can compete better when none of it is actually needed at all. As you show Gabriele, when we accept the true order of how time actually works – we start to understand the true flow of our world.
We seem to be obsessed with this race and getting jet pack fuelled in many different ways to be faster than before. Just recently I have been struggling myself with how to ‘fit everything in’. But nowhere in this debate did I consider the possibility of quality. What you present Gabriele offers us the chance to see that what we call time is just a result of energy. And so if we chose Love so too does our sense of space change.
As I type these words, I have a choice, to rush ahead, or let each letter that I type reverberate in my life. When I take the second route, I find, there’s not so much I need to say as there’s no need to fill up things, but just an enjoyment and appreciation of space. Thank you Gabriele for helping join the dots and helping to reconnect us all with the spacious way we were as a child.
That suggests that we are trying to fill spaces, an emptiness in other words, when we are rushing by doing more than is needed in an instance – possibly another reason why we are drained and exhausted?
It is like we are afraid of the spaciousness and the emptiness comes from the disconnection from ourselves which compresses the spaciousness. Whereas, children tend to live in spaciousness and they feel at ease with it, hence we see children being very joyful.
Children have an ease and suppleness that is not burdened with past experiences; they get a fresh start and their movements and spaciousness are proof of it. They are great role models.
I like your offering here Gabriele. After all we do what we do but as you show it does not have to be done under this constant pressure, rushing or stress that is so common nowadays. We are allowed to enjoy every moment and things still get done – on time.
I just love what you have so beautifully expressed here Gabrielle, a powerful lesson for us all;
“When we stop misinterpreting time as a movement and instead regard it as space, everything changes and rhythm and order take precedence. And further, everything that needs to be done gets done”.
When we watch or race against time we are measuring and judging ourselves on the pace and time we take to complete things which sets our bodies into a frazzle and our natural rhythm is thrown out the door. Surrendering to our bodies own pace and the way it likes to move brings a great deal of ease and freedom to our days and the anxiety we once had dissipates completely. Connecting to our movements connects us to space and this is so very expanding and time simply fades away.
Reading this reminds me that if I’m struggling or feeling like I’m pushing through something with a hardness to come back to my whole body and be fully present with what I’m doing – it’s amazing how much struggle and seeming hardness we can create for ourselves when there is another way we can flow in life…
And interesting how ‘normal’, widely accepted and laudable the hardness and rushing are deemed to be – there is no sense that it can be otherwise.
Whilst reading your blog this morning Gabrielle I was struck by the times I self criticised and self judged; thus not allowing the natural rhythm and flow of life to just be, without rush or complication. Thank you for the gentle reminder.
Self judgement and self criticism can be such a habitual undercurrent that it takes utter awareness and considerable self love to turn it around and leave the struggle behind.
‘when I don’t rush, I am not slow!’ I was called ‘slow’ as a child and teenager and now and then this pops up in my mind and creates an anxiousness and rush in my body but what you say is true don’t rushing means quality in movements and gives a complete different perspective to what needs to be done.
That must have been a compliment then, being slow as a child. It’s the adults who seem to have a problem with that, never the children.
When there is surrender to what is in front of us in life, what we have carried as a picture in our mind as of how things have to happen gets thrown out the window. It may feel unnerving if pictures are what we have held onto as comfort, but when we actually feel what is going on within us, it may be a different story. There is a sense of steadiness, which does not play ball with what the world has made normal, it is expressing a movement which comes from within my being rather than with what life has said I have to be. There is also a slight unease to feel this, as this only means there is so much more potential to fully live out in what we call life, but I am willing to go there.
What if we’re not actually going anywhere at all, just moving around from a to b, and it’s life that comes towards us, based on the choices we make from moment to moment? This is a completely different way of looking at life, from chasing after it, trying to make it fit the picture of how we want it to be, to understanding that we are part of a much greater and grander flow of the universe. It then becomes a much simpler choice: are we aligned to the flow of the bigger picture, with all of our movements in harmony with that, or battling against it?
I loved that feeling ‘of having all the time in the world’ like love it so does my body, I feel much more joyful that way. Time also opens up, as in there is a lot more space.
This idea we have of getting some where faster, rushing , making up for time lost continually puts us in a tension that is not supportive. I have spent many a day driving, working etc thinking I needed to hurry to do it. As soon as I do that I am out of my natural rhythm, I am learning to get on with it and work but not delay or rush in this I am finding harmony.
There is so much for us to pause and ponder on here Gabriele. Now that you mention it, I clearly remember what it felt like as a child to live in the expansiveness of space (God’s body) with the absolute knowing of the vastness we belong to and the love we are held in and not only that, it was no big deal, just really, really normal. That is until I learnt to ‘quicken up’ and thus shrink space by doing so! As a mum to two young girls now, I can feel how I contribute to creating such a disturbance and it is making me cringe somewhat. A good moment to appreciate that while we do all need to get out the door on time to make it to work, school and daycare, I do not need to go into a rush and hurry everyone up thereby shrinking space and losing connection with myself, my children and thus with God/the Universe (the space we are held within), in order for us to ‘get there’.
Shrinking space through rushing around and trying to get things done is a great way to describe what happens and how unpleasant it feels in the body.
You highlight a great point Gabriele – 4pm is still 4pm but how you arrive at this time and the quality of energy and flow you feel throughout your body will be different depending on the choices you make.
This is of course inspire by Serge Benhayon and his book ‘Time’ – this small book is a treasure trove and each time I open it, I discover more and can go that little bit deeper. Serge Benhayon is a master of time and when humanity finally discovers this book, we will be able to free ourselves from the self-imposed shackles that our misconception of time burdens us with.
It’s amazing the difference our approach to a job or situation can make – how we can set ourselves up with preconceptions about how it is going to be or take a fresh approach. I love how you say we can ‘season’ what we do with judgements on ourself or the task at hand or stay present with the whole self as we do what is needed…
A vital piece of writing that helps one to wrench free from the clutches of self-imposed restrictions under the guise of time watching.
Our focus on time is largely about how long it will take us to get something done, or when do we need to be somewhere. Instead if time was not a movement forward, but a responsiveness to the stillness that we hold within, and how that is then expressed to the world, everything would change.
When we stop misinterpreting time as a movement and instead regard it as space, everything changes and rhythm and order take precedence. And further, everything that needs to be done gets done.
Our concept of time, when you look at it, is actually pretty warped: we have the same amount of time, every single day, yet most of us still struggle to fit everything that we need or want to fit into one day into that day, because we’re racing against time and not connecting to the space of it.
It is in the eternal presence of our own being that we realise that time actually truly stands still.
If I rush, which I used to do frequently to get things done more quickly, the quality of the end result would inevitable be less and I would have to redo and so end up taking longer. It is now so much more satisfying not rushing and that is because I am staying connected with my body and not going into my mind..
It is interesting why we call it a ‘dealine line’. I used to leave things to the last minute and then get into a panic, stress and overwhelm to meet my deadlines for work. Every time I did this I hated it, I dislike how it made me feel and the quality of my work was compromised even though often I got good results my body felt drained by it. Now, I enjoy deadlines because I have learnt how to say ‘no’ without feeling guilty when I have too much work and I work steadily with less procrastination and I can naturally deliver my work with quality and care.
When I go into a rushing energy to do things it feels awful. Everything seems to be squashed and narrow, my breathing becomes fast and shallow and my entire body feels tensed. So why would I choose to do things in this energy when it makes me feel so terrible? It was because I was so used to running my life this way that I didn’t know how to stop choosing this and felt I had no control over this, which I now know is not true. I realise everything that happens to me are related to all my choices, so I definitely have the power to choose to work joyfully and not rush. Rushing is the total opposite of being joyful and I can choose which energy to align to. Stopping myself from choosing to rush is difficult to start with but the more I choose to be joyful then this leaves less room for anything unloving.
I have learnt to astutely observe and feel how much my body hates being rushed – my heartbeat is faster, the tissues feel contracted and my work suffers, i.e. I make mistakes and have redo and correct things all the time.
Great point, thank you. Yes, and we deaden ourselves whilst we are pursuing a dead line and life is certainly not much fun. Temporarily we might get off on the excitement and nervous energy, but it doesn’t last and leaves us very flat and eventually exhausted.
This is gorgeous and so powerful in one. So often do we align and measure ourselves with and by time. But in taking a closer and more honest look at it, it’s rather dis-empowering for we are deemed less if we don’t reach the ‘dead line’, or we gain approval or recognition if we beat or meet it, whatever it is. Yet through our connection to our Soul there is a greater sequential order we align to, where we are not defined by the limits of time in relation to the objects and world that surround us, but rather we the quality of our relationship to our Divinity in the space we occupy at any given moment. Where in-truth there are no limits to the volume, intelligence or quality of Divinity we are, can feel and as such live through whatever we do.
This is a very beautiful addition which contrasts the difference between the constraints of invented time and the timelessness of our divinity succinctly and with great ease.
Racing against time and trying to do things fast in raciness doesn’t really support us because any form of rushing we put our body under stress and tension. Not only that we also compromise the quality of everything we do. When we rush which often leads us to making mistakes and having to redo things again which can lead to more stress and tension. Letting go of the race against time brings so much more joy to everything we do.
When I stop trying to fit everything in to my own squashed time-precious boxes, there is a lightness and freedom to life and it just flows. So simple.
Deadline, from the US Civil War, the line around the prisoner of war compound and the tree line, anyone caught in between was shot and safe if they could reach the tree line. Today you might get sacked. Times change but deadlines still put a target on your back!
Hey, thanks – I always wondered where the word came from; I definitely wouldn’t want to be seen dead with a deadline, now more than ever before!
Great snippet of the origins of the word deadline. Enslaved by time deadlines is as hard on the body as being shot!
What you shared is great “I had not put any effort into trying to get to that end point earlier or faster and in that I got to feel the true blessing of time – the revelation of time as space. And in that space, time does not matter, it is not my enemy and I don’t have to compete with it. And to top it all off – everything that needs to get done gets done.” It is a beautiful feeling when we don’t put an end time to something, the body is not under pressure, the flow is beautiful and like you say, you get what you get done anyway, so why do we put ourselves under that pressure?
At present I feel that it is a habit, putting myself under time pressure. Possibly even an addiction, as that stress provides an artificial kind of fuel that is harming the body but that I have possibly come to rely on.
This is interesting Gabriele. I used to think that addictions only applies to smoking, drinking, taking drug and gambling etc. but this addition you share feels very familiar to me too. Something I too am working on letting go.
wow….I have never considered time as an addiction before and yet, on reading your comment, it actually makes sense in my body. Thank you Gabriele for this insight you offer.
Itr feels more and more as though we rely on the extra drive and push that self-imposed time pressure provides to get through everything we have piled on our plate.
When I stay with my body space opens up and time is no longer my focus.
And one know what needs to be done in each moment where the purpose leads the way not the clock.
I never use to understand this, but now I completely get it. When I am not getting caught with time but just allow myself the space in my every day, time just expands. It is amazing I get so much done and feel still very connected to my body.
Great point, 4 o clock comes regardless whether you rush and push through the day or just remain present with what you are doing, trusting that what needs doing will get done…. Trusting feels key, and I have observed the deeper I self-nourish and self-love the more I can trust and the more I can just enjoy being with the task at hand without any time pressure.
When you look at the way that we live, we certainly do cut the figure of a race (human that is) utterly dedicated to fighting the hands of the clocks. Like the inescapable claws of what we call fate they appear to squish, squash and clamp us between big bars of minutes and hours. But are we really fighting time? Or are we resisting and then refusing the next step we are offered to grow and evolve? Like a crazy computer game this race against time seems to the ultimate diversion. Thank you Gabriele for helping us here to see it is a rouse.
Today I put time on the back burner and instead focused on what was needed whilst staying with my body and movements. I liked what I found, so I’m going to have another go tomorrow.
I am not really sure if I am totally getting the depth of what you are actually offering here, Gabriele. Whether we choose to rush and race against time or not, time will arrive on its own accord when it is due and we are simply being offered space in which we move in however the way we choose to. There’s something that totally fascinates me about your simple example of appreciating and working with the relationship between the linear and the spatial – and it makes me consider about what then space is, that which we actually share and co-exist in with everything and everybody beyond the reach of what we can see and comprehend, and we actually have access to ALL of that.
It certainly is a work in progress for me and yes, there are amazing insights and the joy of the space that this lived quality provides, but it is not continuous – yet. One day it will be and it will be for all of us when we are willing to look at what incarcerates us, by our own choices.
Last night when I was preparing supper I caught myself rushing. I was rushing for no reason and I realised that rushing was such an ingrained pattern of mine that I rush almost regardless of circumstances. In that moment I clocked what I was doing and stopped, changed the way I was moving and prepared my food lovingly. In that moment I had a wave of joy for what I was doing, I felt still and a sense of space opened up.
I didn’t realise until reading your blog that I tend to rush tasks that I perceive to be boring. I want to get the, over and done with so I tense my body and push through leaving any possibility of joy behind. Thanks I’m going to observe when I do this.
If I rush to get something done, I find myself faffing in the frazzled state trying to remember what I need to do next, a complete waste of time.
Great reminder that we don’t need to rush ourselves to fit into time, when we allow and focus on the task at hand and approach a sense of flow and connection then time expands and space is created to do what we need to in the period we need too. This has been my experience.
“Would I have finished five minutes earlier had I rushed?” And this is a concept we have created anyway. that we need to be fast and efficient. It is a picture we have created and abide to that we always have to achieve and achieve more but as you describe there is no need to race, we can take all the time in the world to allow for the space to be felt where we naturally feel at home and start to expand and come back to our fullness which then has everything we need to move into the next moment.
Rush takes me away from being present to what I am doing and so our thoughts are ahead of our body, and there is a disconnection happening. This disconnection causes anxiety within me, my heart starts to race and it feels very uncomfortable. When I was reading this article, I had many thoughts that wanted to take me away from reading into another action, but every time I clocked these thoughts I chose not to be led away by them and continued reading and writing. This is a practice very useful for me and I can confidently say for most city dwellers.
The mind has a very short attention span, it flits from one thing to another if we let it.
A beautiful and powerful reflection Gabrielle, thank you. I love the lesson you have shared with us here;
“I had not put any effort into trying to get to that end point earlier or faster and in that I got to feel the true blessing of time – the revelation of time as space”.
It is amazing how much we can allow ourselves to be controlled by the concept of time and needing things to be done when it is in fact space that will support us to do this, which is only achieved when we let go of time and just be in the flow of the moment.
Reading this blog you could feel how ridiculous it is to race against time, almost humorous. How disregarding of our bodies it is. How it’s an illusion we have fallen for that only leaves the body exhausted and not one up as we would like to think. It is one illusion that I fall for many times over, it’s a continual practice of coming back to the body and truth of time.
If we realised everything we do has a purpose and effects everybody we wouldn’t rush through things nor see things as a boring task.
So true Gyl, we would just be present in each moment rather than rushing from one task to the next and often exhausting ourselves in the process.
Exploring the quality of our touch in the simple details of the day I have found to be great to take my mind of the clock-watching and to return to the tenderness of my movements and the space around me just expands. Exploring our movements and how we do simple things in our days really does offer us great learning and shows how we are connected or disconnected to our bodies too.
Gabrielle I can relate to much of your experience in the field of typing and putting pressure on myself around getting something done in a shorter time with less mistakes made. This doesn’t work for me either so to read your sharing and appreciate that to take the time with what we are doing doesn’t mean we are slow just more aware and connected in the moment.
Yes, a good reminder – and it feels so horrible in the body to work under strain, especially in the neck and shoulders. And even the facial muscles get involved, it’s crazy.
Yes, I find my whole body gets a beating when I choose to work with a push as I block out what my body is telling me, go into my head and only check back in after the task done by which time most of my body has taken the strain.
I love this Gabriele ‘…when I don’t rush, I am not slow!’. i have heard a lot of times in several working places that I was slow and even at school during gymnastics classes I always got that comment. There can be still something in me that wants to prove that I am not slow and thus choose to rush but this feels the opposite of my natural rhythm which is not slow but a my way of working with care and attention to detail.
I love what you have unravelled here Gabriele, that life is not about quantity but quality – the quality we allow ourselves to be in – and that quantity quite naturally comes with a quality that lets us be in our natural rhythm and flow.
Overtaking time, getting there faster than it does – how crazy and what a trap it is. We always get there on time: when it is 4 o’clock, we are also at 4 o’clock, never earlier or later than 4 o’clock.
I know that too, that people value me being slow and because of that I had taken on that presupposition for myself too. But in fact I am in my natural rhythm of being and everything that I am doing from there then gets the attention that it needs and in the end I am mostly finished in advance of the agreed time and with a quality that is very special.
That quality would be special – and you don’t need to go back over your work and correct all the mistakes that happen when we rush and are not present with what we are doing.
Exactly Gabrieleconrad, When we would just accept all our individual rhythms life would be so different. Just because we have walked away from that, and started to live rhythms that are not ours, our current communities are as they are, out of rhythm exhausted and ill.
Wrestling with time or more like wrestling with our perception of time. I remember telling a story lately how the school holidays when I was a kid seemed to go forever whereas now they seem to pass by in an instant. I remember thinking in my head time is speeding up, but it’s not, never has and actually can never change. Time is a marker or a measure of the time it takes for us to go around the sun but it never changes. As has been presented 4pm is 4pm it doesn’t change. No matter what I will always keep up with time, I am never behind it or in front of it, it’s impossible. When the clock is at 4pm I am right there at the same time. Similar to what Serge Benhayon has presented that we don’t sit at 2pm when the clock is saying 4pm so we are never out of time or behind or ahead of time, we are always on time. I love playing around with time or more true my awareness and perception of time.
Yes, there are so many insights to be gained once we start to unravel our false perception of time and especially the misinformation that we can run out of time or need to race the clock, etc. How can we race the clock when we both always arrive at the same time?
When I slow down and feel what is required from my body then the space I go into has no need to understand time as I know when something is complete by how it feels.
A great account that gives us much to sit with about how much we are ruled by the clock and the constraints of time – that we impose on ourselves.
We can either make time something we take on and battle against, or be with ourselves in the moment and enjoy the space that opens up for us.
I love this Gabriele. By staying with yourself you brought quality to your task rather than the usual anxiety and self-chastisement. What a great way to do all of life.
When I rush I usually make loads of mistakes – thus everything takes longer to do than if I just focused in the present moment and did it correct the first time.
How extraordinary… that most of humanity is driven by and dictated to by something that is truly an illusion… how revealing is that!.
It is very revealing of how lost and truly un-knowing of the true truths about human life and the universe we in fact are – while thinking that we’ve got it and just need to get better at it! It could hardly be worse, even if we tried.
I have asked hundreds of people in the past is it only me, or are things speeding up. Everyone replies that things are speeding up. As the old saying goes haste makes waste so I feel when I rush around I waste a lot of time in the not being present with what I am doing and therefore I seemingly lose time but all I have done is wasted it because I am not present with what I am doing when I am doing it. ‘Childs play’!
I didn’t know that one, ‘haste makes waste’ – it is well worth remembering and very true: when we rush, we are prone to making mistakes and things take longer; we also have to correct our mistakes and oversights.
Great point Doug, I also feel that in my earlier years time was not a critical thing, now even the very young get to have some sort of time piece. When I make life about time instead of being present with what I am doing it also seems to drag on. I feel the key is the ‘child’s play’ that Gabriele exposes, with her statement ‘being present with and within itself’, and this is how we all can be when we are doing anything to the best of our ability. When I do things to the best of my ability then this takes any time related restrictions away.
A bit like confirmation bias, looked at from another angle – the more we make it about time, the more we get confirmed that it is all about time, no matter the truth. The latter is available but not accessible as long as we are unquestioning hamsters on a wheel.
That’s fascinating – what do they do when they arrange a meeting for say, the following week when they might not have a word for week either? Do you know more?
Rushing is 100% bad medicine! I am sure it changes one’s body chemistry. Stress makes me physically sick, I’m not with myself and I take on the emotions, the poisons of others and get sick to the point of being bed ridden.
But completing tasks with the natural rhythm of movements which honour this and I feel at ease even in what I’d find challenging situations. Definitely worth developing and saying no to the temptation to rush and avoid feeling how lovely I am and simple life can be.
When we can drop the pressure of time, and allow ourselves space, then our movements change – we are more at ease in the body. Rushing is the one thing that gets me all flustered, but if I allow the space, then it becomes so simple. A great sharing and learning that we always have a choice as to how much tension we hold in our body at any one time.
“the revelation of time as space. And in that space, time does not matter, it is not my enemy and I don’t have to compete with it.” When we set ourselves in competition with time we will always struggle but when we give ourselves space there is no competition.
“I had not put any effort in getting to that end point” this is key for me in life, I put so much effort and trying into being myself or being somewhere, an image I have created of where I think I should be, how I should act and what I should look like – which in truth takes me even further away from me and deeper into my head. It’s a totally exhausting and miserable way to live. There’s no joy in pressure, performance or trying to get somewhere / an end result because really you are just leaving yourself behind, saying I’m not good enough, beating yourself up and not seeing and appreciating how lovely you really are and all the magic, glory and power you already bring in just being yourself. Yes we’re always learning and can deepen, this can be done with love and wonder not pictures, pressures, effort and trying, the later completely exhausts us, and brings no true evolution or joy.
You elaborate on what Serge Benhayon has just recently termed “target fixation” – aiming for the end result, the outcome, the goal post, etc in their many guises. But it totally takes us away from ourselves and who we truly are, makes an enemy of time and compresses our space.
Love what you have shared here Gyl, I feel that I have also created a false image as you have portrayed. As I now write this comment I can feel how I can deepen the love I have in writing and bring more joy into every word, which will be an amazing reflection to take into the rest of my day.
When we get a-head of ourselves time does become an issue. There is not much space in a head that is full of to do’s and incoming thoughts, and yet the space in the body when we connect to it’s expanse seems endless.
I love your point that if we rush to finish something, do we actually feel joy in the time we saved? The answer I find is always no, because we’ve put our body into a quality and a momentum where life feels uncomfortable and the tension we created does not just end the moment we finish the task – it remains and it takes work to stop that momentum and choose a different quality.
Good point – is there joy in the time we’ve saved and what happens to it, anyway? Where is it, where has it gone and if it is there, what do we do it? Is it possible that it is just an illusion?
Yeah I agree, the joy is not in the time saved, but the moment savoured.
As the old saying goes, less haste, more speed.
Quality. That is what it is all about. True energetic quality.
Yes, quality rather than quantity – a constant reminder. And the most amazing thing is that quantity then takes care of itself.
Ver well said and so true – ‘quantity then takes care of itself’ 🙂
I loved reading this especially this point “What I also noticed was that my output seemed to be the same, whether I would have been rushing like in the past or staying present with me and attending to every step and nuance as I was doing now.” what an incredible and profound realisation. It shows that there is no need to rush and that somehow when we are present and focused, “in the zone” so to speak space opens up and there is a possibility for us to complete everything that is needed.
It is our relationship with time that seems to be the issue, not time itself. When I am in rhythm with my own body there seems to be all the space I need within the construct of time, and the opposite is also true when I am not.
This is spot on, if we’re ever out of sync with time we are out of sync with our own body, rhythms and cycles.
Being present with what we do as we do it allows everything to flow it in order and rhythm… in our cycles and within the planetary and broader universal cycles. Getting the mind on board and in sync with the body allows the flow of movement to be in harmony with all.
I was sitting in traffic the other day and it is always interesting to observe how some drivers are ducking a weaving, in and out of lanes in the hope that they will get ‘there’ quicker. The frustration and angst this causes is obvious and fruitless also. Others simply surrender to the situation and often sail past merrily. Same situation with two very different outcomes, frustrated and frazzled or enjoying the spacious ride.
Yes, good point – we always have a choice of how to conduct ourselves and how we make use of the space that time provides; and we either end up out of breath or firmly with our breath.
Re-reading this blog is a great reminder of how much pressure is felt within the body and in ‘doing things’ from a poor quality of rush and drive to achieve results in a certain length of time. Coming back to simply be with the body and aware of the quality of movement being chosen, offers the possibility of all flowing in a harmonious way and a spaciousness to work in.
“There was a definite lack of something to rub against, get hassled by, or even be the slightest uptight about, nothing provided friction or an issue of any definition or description”.
Incredible blog Gabrielle, showing us how important it is to always descern energy in our lives and to observe and see that time is coming to us, not we going to time. A huge revelation and from this revelation, given to me/us by Serge Benhayon, I started to see the truth behind time and that in fact there is space, one that we feel once we surrender and let go of time..
A great reminder again thanks Gabriele that we can move with ‘time’ or with ‘space’, and the latter allows for an effortless flow to be felt and a sense of expanded time. It is efficient, connected to the whole and joyful to be part of.
I seem to remember my birthday and Christmas taking AGES to arrive as a kid as well asking my parents, as if I were a stuck record: “are we nearly there yet” when on car journeys which were always really boring! Whereas when I was doing something I enjoyed, I would often say or think “wow how time flies when you’re having fun”! So this suggests to me that when you’re with yourself and in your element, you have no concept of time what so ever whereas when bored and doing something you dont enjoy, time drags drags. But obviously both of these are just as much of a mind fuelled illusion as each other because time is constant; it does not go faster or slower; it’s just our perception. So it’s how we are in the space that gives us the illusion of time maybe…. So I can see that if I was consistent with myself and paid attention to whatever it is I’m doing, be it boring/ exciting or otherwise, just by bringing my full focus to it, it will get done, or be enjoyed, regardless of the time taken, but I won’t be experiencing the highs/lows in my body, of being so dependent on how much time it’s taken or how much longer is left.
Wonderful example Gabriele and one I can soooooooooo fully relate to. It is exhausting to work in the time dead-line-get-it-done-tick-box-and-on-to-the-next-ever-waiting-thing mentality and it does not even get you there any faster if there is even a there to get to!
Yes, great point – is there ‘a there’ to get to or is it all one big illusion?
we are already here and by trying to get there miss being here!
Exactly – and how there can we really be when we’re not even here!
hear hear!
I’m glad you could decipher my reply; I meant to say: and how can we really be there when we’re not even here. Now you open it up even further: what is this there? And can there really be a there when we don’t have and fully live the here.
I loved your “how there can we really be when we’re not even here!” You may not have meant to say it, but I was meant to read it.
We are always somewhere can’t be nowhere but the question is what energy are we expressing in and is it in time or space?
I love this blog. I imagine how lovely it would have been to have lived that spaciousness from childhood until now. I feel how much healthier it would have been; how much sweeter and more joyful. There is a lot of resentment in the world from people who have lost this sweetness towards people who have found it again but the example needs to be there and the inspiration needs to stay firm until we all realise that this is the way our bodies need to live.
I love how you changed your intention in your example – you chose not to rush. We all have this freedom to make this choice, to change the way we do something. And the greater awareness we have of how we choose to live, the easier it is to make that choice for change.
I have found that as soon as I put a time constraint on getting a job done and try to work more quickly, because I have added pressure on myself I start to make mistakes and the whole thing takes longer to undo, than if I had just gone at my usual steady pace, a great lesson in staying consistent.
I’ve felt that time can be a support by it’s steadiness and consistency. Each second is the same as the last, it is us who are either racing against it, in rhythm with it or way ahead of it. It’s like we are moving in chaos around time but time just keeps ticking.
Good point; time, which we have created after all, just keeps ticking along. It is neither slower or faster at any point in time but steady, constant and consistent. And as you say, it is us who turn it into chaos and stress.
I love this science, that time is not at all what we think it is. Usually we think that time has to do with the physical clock but I feel that time existed long before the clock was invented and time and space was intertwined and worked side by side. Would love to dive into the science of this a lot more. Thanks Gabriele for the appetiser.
Time as we make it to be can be an enormous creator of struggle. While it is just a marker for us to measure the quality of our movements against. Seeing time this brings a freedom, and a deeper responsibility with the use of time.
And all that thanks to Serge Benhayon and his pioneering book; and there is so much more to discover about the way we have misinterpreted and are abusing time.A few more reads to go and a lot of living of the wisdom to do.
Thank you Gabriele – I always seem to come across this blog when I am rushing. What stands out for me today is the fact that when we rush we rob ourselves of the opportunity to enjoy our lives and feel the gift of each moment.
True – and when we rush we make ourselves ‘time-poor’ because we don’t honour and make use of the available space.
great point! I love this.
I love that when giving ourselves no pressure or expectations we can simply get on with what it is we are doing, the true nature of life and evolution thus reveals itself in space.
I could read this blog over and over! Our war against time is something that annoys us all but thank you Gabriele for showing that it is a simple choice to let go and not worry about time.
Very very beautiful Gabrielle , wow, the example of as children living in space is so true and makes me realize that indeed all those things around time are concepts. Wow. That is big. A big revelation to mankind. There is so much more for us to explore.
Whenever I start to feel the pressure of a situation affecting my body I know it is time to stop and re-connect with myself and stay present with my body while dealing with the situation. This offers me the space with time to achieve the tasks at hand.
Yesterday, there was a major road closed on my journey to an appointment, this was in an area I did not know, and at first there were no clear diversions. I initially went into a bit of panic incase I don’t get there on time, and then just chose to go with the flow, sitting in almost stationary traffic for over 10 minutes, enjoying the beautiful surroundings, so was surprised to feel how this had still detrimentally affected my body when I arrived at my destination.
I have noticed that rushing and thinking that we are ‘saving’ time, shrinks and narrows the beautiful spherical spaciousness that we can naturally be in into a linear state that only creates stress, angst and lack of conscious presence – and a lot less gets done!
I have noticed that I start racing against time when I’m writing too. I also get the sense that this came from school where we are forced to learn by rote and avoid, sharing our own opinions and to get everything right. It is so much lovelier to stop the clock and the pressure to perform and let my natural expression,insight and wisdom flow. And yet I can still feel the raciness creep back in when writing. Thank you for the chance to deepen my awareness about this and the inspiration to heal my anxiousness around writing.
Writing is a good example of how easily we speed up and don’t stay with what the body is doing. And you are quite right, it is a pattern that we learn early and then keep complying with, no matter our age. Until we realise the futility and craziness of this race against time, of course.
I do remember this, ‘as children we live in that space, we spend all our time in it. Do you remember the endless- and spaciousness of each moment, lived and experienced from and in a little body that is present with and in itself?’ and it did feel lovely.
As soon as we set up a ‘deadline’ we are fighting time and our movements are affected as we are constantly trying and going against the natural flow of our expression which is to surrender and trust that as long as we stay focused on moving in the true quality that we are everything gets done and more!.
You are right there – everything gets done and more. And with such ease that it can feel like a miracle.
Not rushing is great medicine. The minute I rush, my heart will speed up and I then a million thoughts will start to come in about what I need to do. It’s a fast track to tiredness and exhaustion.
In my work over the past few weeks I have been realising how crushing and tension developing a focus on time, instead of quality or purpose, actually is. I have been fooled by the pressure of time all my life, until now.
When we take the time to observe how we are doing certain activities, its fascinating what we can find out about ourselves. I really like the idea of being my own experiment. Yesterday I found I was getting back ache while working at my computer. I tried stretching for a few minutes and then ended up using a hot water bottle as a cushion behind my back. In the past I would have just pushed through to get the job done without any regard for my discomfort.
When I rush it is so often because I am thinking about my next activity (in truth in the ‘time’ of the next activity) rather than being present in the moment, fully engaging with what I am doing. Realising this I realise I am trying ‘to get away’ from myself. Asking myself why I am doing this has lead to the further realisation that that arises from a lack of appreciation of myself. Building appreciation I am finding is so supportive in enabling me to stay with myself, my body and what I am doing, and thereby not rush.
Aha, I get it – appreciation of oneself is an important factor that supports us not putting time and deadlines ahead of ourselves. Great point.
I remember as a child living in this endless spaciousness you express Gabriele and yes as an adult this experience became less and less, through reading Serge Benhayon’s ‘Time Space and All of Us’ book I am being reminded that this spaciousness can be lived all the time it is really a case of choosing it.
The feeling of having all the time in the world, in fact, it is a feeling of I am so totally with myself, this is a feeling I commit to take into my day all the time, and therefore I am being shown every day what takes me out of this rhythm—it could be how I choose to eat, what foods I choose to eat, how I choose to interact with people, how packed I schedule my day…basically it shows me everything that does not allow me to be in this deep preciousness of presence and connection with myself, and because of how amazing and spacious connection feels, I would not want to choose anything that does not allow me to feel this always. Life is not perfect and it definitely does not set us up in having this feeling, in fact quite the contrary, almost everything we are shown in life encourages us to not connect with ourselves, but still because this feeling is so deeply precious that nothing is worth more than it, in a world where rush is normal, it is so worthwhile to find every way possible to come back to our deeply precious self. In fact, right now I feel a niggling feeling to eat breakfast, but there is a part of me that wants to ignore it and keep going with this comment, so bye for now.
I trust you made some space and enjoyed your breakfast!
I found too that I put so many goals out and have so many pictures of how the result of something I do has to be, how my day has to go etc. to be successful. I could feel like I was running around all day to achieve my pictured rest or me time at the end of the day and then feeling not content at all as I felt tired or not joyful. Being in the moment has been my project for the last week and I feel less tired and anxious just for being in the moment and being present with me all the time. This is amazing to experience and confirmed by what you wrote too.
I have found that staying connected to me and what I’m doing allows the energy to circulate in the body rather than being squandered.
Its not about whether you are fast or slow, but committed and living from your true rhythm. Being fast or slow introduces a comparison and also a self-judgment or expectation instead of an allowing and natural flowing with our body and our true expression.
You really debunk the myth of being judged as fast or slow here and how it totally misses the point and introduces judgment and stress. Thank you.
Sometimes I don’t do some tasks because my mind says there is no time for them, sometimes I don’t listen to my mind and I start to do those tasks. My experience with this is that when I’m connected to my body, not losing energy with those messages of my mind, I’m able to let go the pressure of time and have a direct experience with everything. I enjoy the process and appreciate myself in it, because I deeply understand the need of my presence in those activities. It’s me simply doing what needs to be done by me. If I’m needed, I’ll have time. If not, there’s no need to be worried. My only task is to be ready and aware from my body for what is needed, without push or delay. Always with me.
That’s a great point – how much energy and time we can waste on those negative messages that only hold up the flow and create turbulences in what would otherwise be a great flow from one task to another.
This is a life changer Gabrielle – to understand the difference between space and time. To be controlled by time means there is no space; the only place where we can experience our deep connection with the ALL and use time for it’s true purpose – simply a measure and a guide.
Time as a guide only and not as this vice we seem to have turned it into – I really like that.
I love it when I have a rhythm of purpose and providing I stay with that purpose the pace I go means that I meet all that I need to do without having to rush.
How simple! Purpose provides the foundation and from there it can never be about how quickly or not we do something. That is simplicity in al its beauty and with the immense support it provides.
The feeling that time just flies and we cannot but try to fly with it is really pervasive and is the source of massive anxiety and countless behaviours that are definitely not good for the body. What is interesting is how different it feels not trying to align with time flying but with the body doing. It is a totally different focus and feeling.
Yes, I agree – trying to ‘keep up’ with time has us by the scruff of our neck and staying with what the body does expands the space we move in.
Amazing! I’ve always said (not always lived it, but I’ve always said it) that we should be fast, slowly. Giving ourselves the time to do notice the detail and have a better quality to what we do!
Great blog Gabriele, it made me look deeper into how I go into overdrive with enthusiasm, which can bring me unstuck! Maybe I am seeing enthusiasm as pride, the sort of pride that comes before a fall because recently I was getting splinters in my fingers every time I looked back at the floor I was laying with some sort of pride.
Very interesting point you raise here; willingness is one thing but enthusiasm has possibly too much self in it when it is seen as a way to stand out and comes with a drive to prove oneself? And by the way: awesome observation, that connection between the splinters and the pride. And in the absence of pride, what would then true acknowledgment of one’s great work feel and look like?
The lack of true self that brings pride would not be there if I was with the humble satisfaction that it was me doing the job and that is all that is needed! I feel that when no recognition is needed for performing any task, then there is the pure joy of doing a job well without the pitfall of pride or elation such as enthusiasm!
This is a great sentence Gabriele – “Or, in other words, when I don’t rush, I am not slow!” One I am getting to know in daily life more and more too.
I have found that when I put pressure on myself to get something done by a certain time because I have other things to do, it is hard to concentrate and it takes me far longer, than when I allow myself the space to do something and concentrate only on the job in hand and am not distracted by other things that need doing. When I have completed that task I can then move onto the next thing and that way I am not dictated to by
time, instead I create space to do these things.
Anytime we are in a contest with time, there is always only one winner, and it is never us.
Great summary of what it means to live in and ‘against’ time in everyday life and how it ill-affects us, not only in the minutiae but also in the grander scale of things.
“…Do you remember the endless- and spaciousness of each moment, lived and experienced from and in a little body that is present with and in itself?…” A great question here to pause to feel reconnect with that endless, spaciousness with no time-barrier felt, when being a child. And this feeling of no time-barrier is what describes the space felt when there is a connection with the body whist the body is in activity… It really is a timeless union, where 5 minutes can feel like an hour!
When I find myself with a list of tasks to do what I have experienced is that just approaching it without rush or stress does make a huge difference to the time it takes to complete them. So for me there is something in time that is affected by the space we allow ourselves. If I am not in my head worried about when I will complete things then time is not against me, it is just there, a space I create by focusing on what needs to be done.
In my youth, there were two days of going to work and being late that this blog has caused them to rise up. I had a job that started a 10 pm to about 2 am that was crazy money. There was eight of us on the crew that have to wash over 500 delivery trucks; this
is now one of the worlds largest international delivery companys. I was spending an evening with my girlfriend and lost track of time and had to rush to get to work and not be late. I drove faster that I should, but being night time there was no traffic. At work the parking lot was a long way from the building. The building was very large, all of the trucks we washed were parked inside and there were over 250 outside docks for Simi truck trailers and 20 inside. I had to run to get to the time clock and was 2 minutes late. The next night was like ground hog day. Once again I was with my girlfriend, and at the same time discovered I would be late so I tried everything to shave the seconds off, as I reached for my time card you could hear the click from the machine and I was one minute late. The told my boss I was only one minute late and he said one minute or one hour late is late. That was over 40 years ago and has flavored my life to always be aware of time. Time is something we can’t control but don’t have to be controlled by it when we control the moments in it.
That is a very pertinent example; is it more about our choices from moment to moment though, rather than controlling time or the moments in it? The latter still feels quite constricted to me.
This is a great reminder about the difference between time and space, and how this has an effect on the body … with one it can feel like tension or a pressure and the other is a feeling of expansion where it feels like you have all the time in the world.
The thing is when we rush our bodies feel so tense and there is no true enjoyment or celebration to be had for having got through the task, because we then have to take more time to unwind and in order to not feel the tension we may choose to drink, eat too much or what ever our means to numb ourselves – is it all worth it.
‘…when I don’t rush, I am not slow.’ This should be a banner!! I want this banner in my room!
Always enjoy reading this blog post Gabriele. It is a perfect reminder that doing things because we feel we have to simply doesn’t bring any joy to our lives. I’ll be honest and say that the penny on this one has not dropped with me yet. It makes perfect sense to me, but for some reason I’m not letting go of the obligatory ‘doing’.
I wonder whether there is a concern that things won’t get done unless we attend to them out of rhythm and against our better knowing; worth experimenting with for sure. I find that things flow much more smoothly and swiftly when I am in rhythm and pick tasks up in their right timing as well.
It’s so true Gabriele. Rushing to finish something and then having to go back and correct your mistakes because you were in such a hurry and not paying attention to detail does not save an ounce of time. If anything it not only takes longer, but the ripple effect of the stress it generates invades and compromises the quality of all that you do.
That is very true – the quality in which we do things affects everything else afterwards until such time that we make a different choice and put a halt to the insanity of rushing.
‘when I don’t rush, I am not slow!’ How much in this world is measured by how fast it is…the faster the better and more desirous. This can be true of how we do things and what we do so that the value of our performance is measured by time rather than quality. There can be resentment towards people who are too slow, as in traffic situations or I even experience it in the shop where I work sometimes. If I wrap things with care this can actually irritate some people who judge it as being a waste of time. People can become agitated if they have to queue or wait for another customer. Rather than be at the mercy of this fast pace why not make our own; make a pace that leaves us feeling good with ourselves, no agitation, and good with all those around us. How often do we allow ourselves to feel stillness in side and actually enjoy that?
When I stay with my natural rhythm I can feel the blessing I place on what I do because the quality is very deliciously divine.
Time, time, time. I’m reading Serge Benhayon’s book Time at the moment and will be for some time, haha. But what is interesting is how we look and perceive time when it would appear that it’s not how it actually is. We put huge pressure on ourselves by watching the clock and it’s not that we disregard time at all but we ‘use’ it in a different way. Time is a part of everything and so to push it forward as being something more important or the most important usually means this creates a gap or hole. Looking and using time as just a part of the quality you live and it being important but not the controller of how you move.
Time is something we have made up just as we made up the days of the week. And now we all hold ourselves to the thing that was created. I like to see time in cycles that show me over and over again what I am to learn and what I am confirmed in.
How often do you say – I don’t have time – when time seems to be the one thing that we do actually have in abundance? It never stops, counting and marking each moment as we move around the sun. And yet life can feel so limited, like there is never enough time, like all the things we have to do, are expected to do, are an impossible task given the extent of a lack of time on our hands.
When I sit with this, I question in my own life how time is wisely and unwisely spent. How rushing seems to condense time in to a narrow field of tension and anxiety that continues to invade all aspects of my life. Also, how laziness can lead to just as much anxiety, because the feeling of delay that this creates in my body is equally a tension that permeates though and everywhere.
With this view however I would not call time the enemy, but a great teacher and a friend, constantly showing me the consequences of my choices so that I may choose to learn from them. Then time no longer just becomes a marker for our orbits around the sun, but a marker of our expansion as divine beings.
I agree, procrastination or what you call laziness creates great tension in the body as well; it feels like something hasn’t been attended to in the time/space it had been allotted and then it takes more energy and resources to try and recreate that moment at a future date. Again, we are forcing the body to live in two time zones at once and we carry the lack of completion around with us until it has been resolved.
I have noticed when you are really present with yourself, and are in activity, focusing on a task, then you look at the clock to check the time, it can feel like half hour or longer when actually the clock shows it has been only 5 minutes since you last looked at it… its like time has slowed down and yet expanded longer in the same period of ‘time’. It appears that our perception or boundaries of ‘time’ change when one is in union with their body and soul.
I have had the same experience; when I am really focussed and present, time seemingly slows down and when it first happened I twice left the house an hour earlier than I needed to because it felt as though what I was doing had taken so much more time than it actually did.
Great blog a timely reminder that the quality we get things done in is so much more important than how fast we get things done.
Absolutely. Our quality is paramount. Just today I caught myself feeling the pressures of the teaching profession in a new role i am in. I used my awareness and very supportive stop moments and presence with my movements to remain with my body rather than succuum to pressures and time. . . Knowing there is more than enough space to do what I need to and also holding my quality with the kids and myself as paramount.
So true, rushing doesn’t mean we are slow. I find without rushing everything and more gets done because I’m not making as many mistakes as I perhaps would in the rush, and, I’m not tired from the rush so have more energy for longer.
Time is a river. We flow with it within its shores or stand on the beach and watch it go by.
True. Your comment reminds me of a pondering I had this morning in relation to time spent in a house, suburb etc and all the going ons there. I was thinking about how if someone pressured themselves with family, work, friends everyday etc then after 10 years they left their house,suburb – perhaps they might wonder ‘what was all that for?’ Compared to a family who lived from spaciousness and rhythms who would perhaps be in the knowing of the loving imprint they leave behind and also the appreciation of the expansion within themselves that had taken place. Two very different ways to be in practical real life.
This is a great point johanna08smith and it reminds me that the impact of the choice to rush or stay present is far reaching.
It’s a huge realisation to get, that when we don’t rush, we actually aren’t slow. Knowing that and taking that fully onboard would do so much for the tension and stress we have typically placed ourselves under.
I agree Felicity, what a miss-conception we have, that if we rush we are fast, how crazy we have got caught in that belief.
I was at a meeting yesterday where a plan for a big project was being discussed. Some people were very concerned about the time scale being too optimistic – and I could really relate to how they were reacting as I would have done so myself had I not appreciated what time and space truly were as described in Serge Benhayon’s book – and I really felt how we use time as a constrain, a self-imposed one, and we are so ready to abandon ourselves as well as what we are supposed to commit to, and make compromise. It was really funny because the project was initiated and scheduled by and for us and nobody outside was putting pressure on us so everything could be adjusted as we went, still it was becoming an ‘issue’.
It’s like we make it an issue even though it is not an issue or doesn’t have to be one. The issue is entirely self-inflicted.
This is so common Fumiyo. Often I hear about people leaving things to the last minute (to add to your example) just so they can be in the constraint of time and have to rush. This exposes the fact that many work from pressure, anxiety or their nervous system and ate use to being in a constant state of unease compared to moving and organising ourselves to remain with our natural rythmn and harmony.
I love Serge Benhayon’s book ‘Time’ and this blog as well! They contain such great practical wisdom.
I agree Fiona. Both expose the illusion of racing against time and the beauty of working with space.
When we are aware of something and choose to make a change with this choice coming from the body not our mind the difference can really be felt. I can relate what you share about rushing and then making a decision to not rush and can really feel the difference in how I am when I do this. Great blog showing the quality we get things done in far outweighs how fast we get something done in.
I agree. Decisions made from the body are sustainable.
Changing the focus of our day from where it’s all about the task to where it’s all about the quality that we’re in changes everything: how we are in the day, how much energy we have, how connected and joyful we feel at the end of the day. Whenever I lose focus on quality and make it all about the doing and leave behind the being, there’s often a push and a force with that that is depleting, and I can easily lose myself in the doing.
‘Or, in other words, when I don’t rush, I am not slow!’ This is gold Gabriele.
The ‘point’ in rushing is to get things done faster ‘apparently’; and yet, here we have it… rushing does not beat the clock, in fact far from it.
This is a great blog, to bring discussion to the difference between time and space, and our quality with each of these is awesome.
Surrender transforms time into space.
In contrast I’ve loved what you’ve shared here Gabriele and how it isa choice we can always make — to appreciate the space we are in whenever we do something endnote constrict ourselves to time’s measurements that reduce the act and ourselves to functions that have a beginning and end and minimal quality in between.
It’s an addiction isn’t it to race against time, to race against something that we can never beta by the very nature of how we position ourselves in this relationship in the first place. The moment we go into a race with time, we have left ourselves, we have invited in an energy of pushing, rushing and jagged edges that we cannot and will not rest in. We separate — and from there, the usual day to day mundane tempo of life so many are familiar with ensues.
I love this, it’s so so true. As a society we are so caught in the doing and totally not concerned at all with the quality of our presence, our being and our relationship with ourself, when this is what matters most!
Yes, Gabriele, being totally present in everything we do allows everything to feel spacious but when we are not in our presence we are always working against the clock and trying to get things done. Our minds are racing ahead of our bodies and it is very exhausting.
I’ve recently started a new job, one that is very much ‘laid back’ compared to the usual rush and drive to achieve so much in such a short space of time. So much so that it is actually staggering how much I have self perpetuated this state of exhaustion and frustration and drive as I have chosen to take this into my new place where it simply isn’t working. Coming back to this blog really highlights to me how much we take old situations and try to put them into our present situation. Are our frustrations and investments in life set up to fail because we want life, ourselves and others to be a certain way that once was and because nothing is ever static and the universe is evolving is it possible that what once was can never be in that way ever again simply because it has moved on? And what if we chose to be aware of the up-to-date state of play rather than relating to life from what used to be? Thank you Gabriele.
It’s absolutely a trick that the extra 5 minutes we gain from rushing serves us in any way, by the time we get there we can be so frazzled from the rushing we need a lot more than 5 minutes to unwind. Much better to focus on the quality we are in as we work. The stillness, calm, and self love is what serves us.
Yes children live in space not time, how lovely that is, ‘ Do you remember the endless- and spaciousness of each moment, lived and experienced from and in a little body that is present with and in itself? And it certainly didn’t give a hoot about being faster or better until we learnt to conform and take on these concepts!’
Wise words Gabriele
This is a great read… “… I decided to be very conscious not to speed up but to stay present with me and in what I was doing and feeling, rather than just getting the job done, no matter what…..It felt as though i had all the time in the world..” … Removing all the distracting thoughts, expectations and pressure we can load up on ourselves seems to offer space and that this alters our perception or relationship with time…
Time is a measure we attempt to compete against, but time is a constant and there is no variation, so in setting ourselves up we create a tension in our body, and a harmful one at that. Staying with our natural rhythm supports us rather than fighting against it which is exhausting.
This is very relatable Gabriele. So many of us have been caught in the race or rush against time and it feels horrible, creating space is far more honouring. ‘I had not put any effort into trying to get to that end point earlier or faster and in that I got to feel the true blessing of time – the revelation of time as space. And in that space, time does not matter, it is not my enemy and I don’t have to compete with it. And to top it all off – everything that needs to get done gets done.’
How can we race against something that can be constant and sustained but at the same time guarded and restrained? There is no way to win against something that never stops! The earth takes 365 days to travel around the sun that each on of those days has a set number of minutes. But is a cycle that just starts over again and again, so why rush something that always restarts afresh every day?
I love this Gabriele, “..when I don’t rush, I am not slow!” It is so true as when I do rush I am very slow as I seem to run around in circles so to speak; so busy rushing that I am not getting on with what needs to be done.
Love this blog Gabriele, yes I can remember how when as a young child just being totally involved with what and where I was and how much I changed to going into the trying to get things done, leaving a feeling of tension and anxiousness in my body. I also can recollect how beautiful it was watching my children being totally absorbed in the activity they were doing with in fact no issue with a timetable of how long or short they had, just totally present with what they were doing and how wonderfull it felt to feel their stillness. Now I am beginning to be aware again of how much more rewarding it is to remain in the present and still get what needs to be done, done and really there isn’t much different in the time factor but a huge difference in how I feel, no tension, no anxiousness, simply allows me to feel a true preciousness and appreciation of myself.
You make it feel so real and tangible, that amazing spaciousness and lack of time constraints – a beautiful quality you obviously still have within you.
This blog reminds me of life in how the end will always be reached, no matter the way we spend our time during our life span, the end point is an inevitable juncture that we can race towards or meet with gentle grace.
Not rushing, or setting dead lines, or having an expectancy on how something should end, makes a huge difference to the quality with which we work. I know if I rush in anyway I am given little messages such as bumping my elbow, the computer starts to do weird things or the traffic lights all turn red. What ever it is, I am either in the flow and rhythm of life or I am against it, and the more I am aware of this the more I enjoy finding ways that work with the flow rather than against it.
I have read this blog a number of times of late Gabriele and it is a lovely reminder for me and touchstone, about the difference between space and time and the reality of space. I have had a number of recent experiences of space rather than time. Living with space rather than being run by a clock is a much more harmonious way to live and ensures quality in all that I do.
I love this sharing Gabriele- that we don’t need to rush as we will still get to the same time- what I have noticed is that when I don’t rush I actually do get more done as I am more focused and steady so I can see what is needed and get it done quite simply- when I rush I get little done and feel super anxious in the process.
I love how this blog demonstrates the difference in time and space. We are surrounded by space and when I live with this awareness time takes care of itself as everything that needs to be done is done but in a quality of presence rather than raciness which happens when I just make life about getting from point A to point B. Just writing that makes me feel tight and constricted inside. Presence and connection is definitely the way to be with time and space.
“Just a minute” whilst I write this comment …you may read it “just In the knick of Time”.
It is clear that ” you will have no time for it” when “racing the clock ” for we cannot “beat time”.
In reality we need pay heed to questioning our many beliefs and sayings around Time and its believed importance as governing the machinations of life – for what if life is simply not based on the perceived “clockwork” we have been led to believe but on the time-less truth of universal understanding and spaciousness?
That resonates deeply with me: ” … for what if life is simply not based on the perceived “clockwork” we have been led to believe but on the time-less truth of universal understanding and spaciousness?” Just reading it pries open the shackles we have made time to be through our misconception of it.
In a world constructed around time pressures and deadlines, it is easy to slip into seeing time as a constant relentless reminder of our inadequacy, but I have found that the more I am rushing and in nervous energy, the less present I am with myself, and hence a greater sense inadequacy develops and the more pressured I become with time. Learning to live in presence allows the possibility of space and for me to expand and within that the day unfolds very differently.
Raising the issue of inadequacy is important, yet another proof that time doesn’t work for us the way we have constructed it to be.
There is great wisdom embedded within the everyday language of humanity, and yet rarely do we give pause to consider to reflect on what is often being said. How often do we hear someone say “you are getting ahead of yourself.” Within this simply saying is a profound seed of wisdom that holds the key to so much more than just our ability to manage time.
I stopped wearing a wristwatch years ago as I was in the habit of looking at it all the time, which took me away from my natural sense of rhythm and internal timing. The illusion we can race against time… it feels awful to put this pressure on the body, and nothing actually gets done and faster or with a harmonious quality. Thanks Gabrielle.
The choice you made Gabriele allowed the space for joy in the moment and fed your body with a nurturing and loving energy that held you – the end result is feeling more gorgeousness than would have been otherwise in this case. Everything we are participating in can hold this same loving embrace, the choice is up to us.
‘I had not set myself a deadline (strange word that, a ‘dead line’) and thus there was nothing to measure myself against.’ This is so true! If we don’t set an end point then we do not confine who we are. Where I work there are many timescales by which things must be done, many of them statutory requirements to protect the safety of children. Everyday deadlines are rearranged and negotiated or chased. It seems people are constantly racing against the many deadlines and the countdown to being ‘out of timescale’.As soon as one is reached the timer is reset and the countdown begins again. I observe how living this way wears people down and am learning to complete work within a rhythm that is free of deadlines but completes within timescale as a natural consequence. It’s a work in development.
“4pm is 4pm, regardless of how I spend the time” – this is very profound to considered that we all arrive at the same point in time, but HOW we arrive and the quality we arrive in is our perpetual choice and our immediate reflection of those choices
The title of this blog, “A Race Against Time”, it’s a race I’ve never won. Ever. No matter what, time always keeps going and is always there whenever I cross wherever I had placed the finish line of each particular race. I’ve never, ever, ever beaten time in a race. Crazy that I keep challenging it to yet another race!!
Yes, that is really crazy – but then, we can be quite stubborn is my experience.
I can very much relate to this, Gabriele – “There was a definite lack of something to rub against, get hassled by, or even be the slightest uptight about, nothing provided friction or an issue of any definition or description.” I remember as a student leaving assignments to the last minute so that I was motivated by the stress and time constraint of needing to get it done. I was continually ‘rubbing against’ time to get me going and can now feel the strain that this put on my body.
It is a huge strain and everything we then do gets done in that quality – or more accurately, in that lack of true quality.
I vaguely remember ‘the endless- and spaciousness of each moment, lived and experienced from and in a little body that is present with and in itself’ but choose to join the adults around me in a nervous rush whizzing about me in their own little whirlwinds. I didn’t I stay connected to the the stillness of me but choose individuated, lonely fast spinning, colliding with others and leaving a mess in my wake. I thought if I was the same as those around me I would be liked and be accepted, and not feel the barbs of jealousy.
I’ve been in a spin all my life and can say it’s only brought me stress, anxiety and exhaustion, never an ounce of love or connection. The choice is bountifully clear: to choose to do the same tasks within the day in a spin or to live in the spaciousness of life with the quality of love in all that is said, done, expressed? No need to wait for love to step in and stop the spin through ill health and accident etc. Choosing to not race against time feels amazing.
Hello Gabriele and I bought the book 2 days ago and it’s on my bedside table. Is it too much to say that I am carrying it with me everywhere? Well I am, it’s travelling with me. This book feels like it’s the next part for me, I want to know more about time and what it truly is.
Getting a handle on the need to rush is a big one, as rushing is a bit of an addiction for most people. Getting over this addiction requires us to get to the root cause as to why we rush. Thanks Gabriele for shedding some light on this addiction
“I had not set myself a deadline (strange word that, a ‘dead line’) and thus there was nothing to measure myself against. Speed had become irrelevant and I was not competing with time, trying to outdo, outsmart, outrun or even overtake it.” Yes, Gabriele, deadlines are truly awful in their effects on us and our efficiency. They give such a sense of pressure, yet in so many cases we actually set our own deadlines. We want to do something by a certain time, and when I do that I can feel the heaviness that develops across the back of my neck and my shoulders. I am no longer relaxed in my body, and then as you share, I make far more mistakes, and the job often actually takes longer than normal because of all that pressure. It is so exhausting to try to compete with time, so crazy how nowadays the world seems to be living that way, with constant pressure and exhaustion. Personally, I am gradually learning that when I start to feel that pressure is the time for me to stop for a moment, connect deeply with myself and then go on with the job that needs to be done. Once I develop that relaxed rhythm in my body, then the job that is in hand begins to flow effortlessly, with far less mistakes than when I had been doing it in that rushed manner. A far more enjoyable way to do my work.
For many years I live under the constraints of time, always checking my watch and planning everything so I could fit it all in my day. This was exhausting as it required me to live with constant nervous tension in my body and never being still as I had to rush to get to the next task at hand, Thank goodness for Serge Benhayon who through his presentations I have learnt to reconnect back to my body and to a stillness within me that is endless and where everything that needs to get done gets done in time with no nervous energy but from an impulse of my whole being.
I have read this blog a number of times Gabriele and it is a lovely reminder of the difference between space and time. Too often I get caught up in trying to make up time or save time rather than allowing space and feeling the quality of that space. Thank you for the reminder and inspiration to create space in my life.
It is an every moment choice and sometimes a challenge to either move in line with my inner rhythm or in response to outer influences including ideas, expectations and concepts. There more I know and appreciate how I feel when being in tune with my inner metronome the easier it is to be steady and choose my own rhythm as everything else is recognised as not being harmonious to my being.
The pushing through and the nervous tension we allow when rushing about life is very exhausting on our bodies and relationships.
I noticed I rushed less in reading this and got more out of it. I like how you express that we will get there anyway, so we may as well be present with ourselves and enjoy the process.
I was out walking recently and it happened to be up quite a steep hill. The moment I looked at my watch to check the time I noticed how much heavier I felt. It made me ponder on how I use time and the effect this is having on me.
Gabriele, I can really relate to what you have shared here, I am very known for being racy in how I go about doing things. That is on all fronts, talking fast and a lot, moving quickly and definitely doing the what I would call, more mundane things in life like cleaning up, putting things away in the kitchen, unpacking the dishwasher and doing clothes washing. These types of things I would never usually do in a joyful way, they always felt annoying, a necessary chore of life. But I love what you have shared, that it is in slowing down, being more present during these tasks. I have drawn a lot of inspiration from here so thank you.
Conversely, it is also so very true, how rushing gets us nowhere but back a few steps in time. We rush, leave a trail behind of frazzle ad mistakes we need to go back to and attend. One step forward, two steps back and the clock is ticking while we are always behind.
‘when I don’t rush, I am not slow’ — these words are golden, I want to make a sticker out of them and put them in many places. It is so so true. If we start a task with the pointy, and angular time parameters in mind, in all likelihood we will have little time left before we’re done, get just a sporty and angular ourselves in the process, and rush. Our bodies cop it, and the rest of our day often does as well. But if i stay with my body and the spaciousness that I can connect to from my body, approaching the task at hand with this i am in the wondrous spacious moments reminiscent from childhood you describe Gabriele, and this can be anywhere. Just yesterday at my workplace it was just that, and I got so much done — in space and it was an amazing feeling to finish up the day with. Time is a concept we’ve bought into so as not to feel the expansiveness naturally there for us to surrender which is around and with us,ironically, all of the ‘time’.
I do a lot of typing for my job, as well as in my free time. I found that when I went through a stage where I felt quite irritated all the time, both at work and at home, and was really pounding the keys, I started to develop pain in my finger joints at the end of several of my fingers. I justified this by telling myself that I needed to type fast, but the pain was getting worse and worse. Finally, I realised that the speed was not worth it, and started to press the keys more gently. The pain reduced greatly! It is not completely gone, but serves as a reminder of when I am rushing and tightening myself in the illusion of accomplishing things through speed instead of connection to myself.
It’s interesting how we get caught up in competing with time when our true relationship is with space.
It is very interesting to observe the last couple of days how I move from one thing I have to do to another thing I have to do and that I feel like rushing in between because it is ‘useless’ space. Yet I can feel how not true this is, every moment with me matters because every move I make does influence how I will be thereafter – so it is worth being with me and making an effort to enjoy this space with me.
What a beautiful and very practical sharing Gabriele. What you say makes so much sense. I often experience tension when I am working – with critical thoughts – but this is always when I constrict myself to having something done by a certain time, or if I have left it to the last minute. However when I am feeling connected to my body, not rushing and choosing to be present and paying close attention to detail, I experience so much JOY and confidence in whatever I’m doing, it’s feels absolutely magical!
It is incredible what is possible when we allow the space.
Serge Benhayon’s book Time is most definitely a great inspiration to live by space rather than by time, the benefits of which you eloquently share here, Gabriele.
What I am finding so beautiful with allowing space for things to happen is that I get to experience the unexpected. I just had a conversation with someone and after I had covered what I wanted to ask her, rather than ending the conversation, I allowed it to continue and in so doing it went to a much deeper level. I could feel that in choosing the space to be with her, I let go of my agenda and enjoyed an open and honest discussion which led to an unexpected deepening connection.
Such a beautiful ‘timeless’ sharing Gabriele, to appreciate the spaciousness that is equally present in what is required is simply a choice of which way we choose to be with ourselves. Connecting to the moment with absolute clarity or scattering our thoughts to finish something under conditions of should or must. The difference of how it feels in the body is very worth experimenting so we can choose for ourselves.
Love re-reading this blog, I kinda need a bumper sticker saying it in front of me to remind me that rushing is not going to get anything done quicker and everything suffers due to the quality not being there. Crazy.
I love this…”I had not put any effort into trying to get to that end point earlier or faster and in that I got to feel the true blessing of time…” Just reading this statement seems to slow down the perception of ‘time’. And that true blessing is feeling the joy of being whilst you are in the activity of the ‘doing’… No disconnection necessary to get a job done.
I have been experiencing the truth that I have heard in presentations by Serge Benhayon about how when in the rush it feels a little too late to change, it feels like a momentum, but if the quality of movements are felt and appreciated more consistently, then the slightest of disconnects can be addressed without cascading into a full on rush or emotional storm. The way back when I am already time dependent and driven is also important but I have felt it takes quite some effort and it reflects the old saying, ‘a stitch in time saves nine’.
Something I realised while reading this blog again was that when I rush, the mean thoughts come in. Things like, how stupid to not leave enough time, you should have been better, you’re ridiculous and so on. It’s so interesting to realise that as soon as I am out of whack or off kilter those thoughts very quickly find me. This is a revelation. Rushing for any reason, takes me away from myself. Being consciously present and with all my thoughts and movements, even fast movements, means I am still in the love that I am and in time.
I am pondering on how draining and harming it is to have the self-judgment running as we do a task. I can relate this to my studies where I have the voice running in the background saying I wont be able to get it done, I am a slow reader, its too big etc. Instead of just approaching it step by step with all of me, I am bringing a sense of failure before I even begin. Thank you for this inspiring blog Gabriele.
I notice there are jobs that I consider uninteresting too, or things I feel I am not good at that I just want to get done. This creates a drag and heaviness around doing them or a rush to tick it off the list. It also very much affects the way I feel as I am doing that task and how it leaves me feeling. It feels so easy and natural to be in space rather than time as I go about tasks and it leaves me feeling like I have limitless time and joy.
I was pondering on this topic yesterday as I have a very similar example. I check the timesheets of several staff at my work. One person always has errors, as they haven’t checked the hours are correct or have left out time off/sick days etc. This means I have to send it back, wait for it to be filled out again. Even with an explanation quite often I have to return it again. This is a perfect example of how we think we are saving time when we rush, yet we actually waste our time and others by not taking the time to check the details.
This was a perfect blog for me to read this morning. I have started studying this year for the first time in a long while. I love what I am reading about but I allow the assignment due dates to put me into tension. I worry about how I am going to get all that reading done etc, which then impacts on my enjoyment and desire to even start! Being in time rather than space creates heaviness and obligation rather then joy of being me and learning and expressing.
it’s amazing how much attention to detail we have when we look at things from a point of view of space and don’t take in all of the perceived pressures of time – things which may takes us many ‘times’ to learn we could pick up much earlier if we gave ourselves the space.
Amazing Gabriele, when we are not racing against time we discover the intricacies and details of movement and that there is great joy in what we are doing, but simply live with so many “must dos” and “have to’s” that the momentum that we live in exhausts us!
Brilliant Gabrielle – a choice indeed – either we do it feeling frantic and stressed or we do it feeling lovely. Same end point and same time end point to – just a choice of either travelling the same journey in ‘cattle’ class or first class. Thank you for making it so simple to understand.
Developing a rhythm in my life has been a really important part of my ‘always there fall-back foundation’, not only to support me when things get challenging but also to inspire me to take the next step.
Yesterday I whizzed through my day with scant regard for the supportive reminders from my body throughout. And yes I am copping it today… I feel very tired, rattled and a step away from the settled stillness I know inside my body. So, I find myself at this article… now, that is something to really appreciate and not gloss over as I am inspired to steady myself and shift the pattern of yesterday as I step into this day.
Thank you Gabrielle, this is such a revelation that to stay connected with our bodies creates a quality of movement and a knowing that what needs to get done will get done so there is no need for expectations but a surrender to what’s there in front of us.
‘Running on time’ is a phrase we use all the time. But these words are exposing in themselves, as they suggest that we are actually ‘running’ to keep up with time.
Haste only makes hassles down the track!
It is great to remember that time in childhood where we were free and joyfully present in the moment with us, before we get trained to turn into linear-thinking competititve total-recall automatons in school. Not everyone succumbs to this conveyor belt, but those that stay themselves can find it tough, but these are the very ones the world needs, as we become increasingly dictated to by systems and institutions devoid of love.
Having the need to slow down or take a rest and or needing a coffee to relax also becomes addictive. After 12 years of being a student of the livingness I am still learning to heal my racyness.
It’s so key what you’ve shared about how when we let go of having to race time and rush, more space opens up and the friction we feel between what we want/’need’ to happen and what actually plays gets diminished. When we let go of the expectation and need to beat time then situations can play out as they do without us getting affected.
We can so easily squeeze our lives into segments of time making each moment about getting the task done while feeling pressured, ill at ease and over-whelmed. This makes it easy to fill up the day and arrive at the end of the day feeling like we need some ‘me time’, a reward – like a bowl of icecream in front of the TV or surfing the net doing ‘what I want’. As you write Gabriele, it robs us of joy and the enjoyment of being in and with our bodies in the moments that make up our day. Choosing to be in and with the body, as we experienced as children, counters ‘rushing’ and the perception that time is speeding up and the years passing by faster as we get older.
Hello Gabriele and I need to go and get this book and have a read. It seems like a huge resource that I have never really read through. I can absolute relate to what you are saying and the way you described it. I love the title of the book too, “Time, Space and all of us, Book 1 – Time” and there is a great little preview here, http://www.unimedliving.com/books-ebooks/unimed-publishing-books/time-space-and-all-of-us/time-space-and-all-of-us-book1-time.html
It is amazing how time can either be a pressure, a weight, a looming shadow over what we do, or it can be a flowing river which we can be in total control of where we go and how we get there. Which one it is for us completely depends on our own connection to ourselves.
One day we will except the fact that time is only relevant to the watches of this world!
And the watches can do whatever they like while we are otherwise engaged in space. Love it!
It is also fascinating that when I make space or give myself space to do something or just stop, I then have what feels like more time but at is actually because I chose to give myself space because time is time but the quality of the space can vary. So did I love myself in that space or not?
When we don’t rush we are able to give ourself space to express so much more than when we limit our time because we also limit our expression too.
All there was – was the space to do what had to be done….. this line from your blog Gabriele essential sums everything up. When we feel we don’t have enough time/space, we ourselves have cluttered, blocked or reduced space by being in our heads and in the ‘ rush mode’.
We seem to live in a time frame which seems to put pressure on us. In truth we live in space, but to really feel this we need to live in a certain rythm and with certain movements which supports the space in our body.
I never enjoyed wearing a watch… it was like a shackle on my wrist that kept me enslaved to time and actually, now I consider it, away from my natural ability to know what time it is.
What a great example and presentation about the difference between space and time Gabriele! This topic is one well worth understanding!
Time we discovered what time is a measure for and the constant anxiety it can have in our lives.
I found that there are so many different ways I can find to create tension or a stress to try and get something done, it always compromises the quality of the end product.
Life with out time restraints would be so straight forward and simple. By completing one thing at a time with no time to consider other than the wisdom of knowing that when it is finished then that is all that needs to be done is so freeing.
I love reading this. I’m learning to trust taking racing against time out of how I ‘get things done’. Instead I’m learning to allow life to be. From an early age I learnt to fear time. I vividly remember the family morning panic to catch the school bus and what felt like life or death consequences of missing it. Great distraction from being me was got from worrying about being late/ constant clock watching/ calculations of how much time it’ll take to reach the destination -rather than setting off in good time and being with me on the journey so I am present when I arrive.
The more still we become within, the more present we are with life, the more we realise that time is actually illusionary, and no more than a comparative marker designed to keep us in a race against the clock.
Yes Adam, reconnecting with our innate stillness is a super antidote to dropping the race against time that most of us walk in…..In that glorious stillness there is so much space.
I love how honest you are about your approach and what made a difference for you- its funny how the faster we go, the longer it takes.
Why do we hurry? I have realized that no matter how fast i go and how many things i get done, their is always more things to do. I used to think i would get every thing done and then i can rest and relax. That type of thinking has totally exhausted me in my life. Why not slow down and actually be wth myself when i do something?
Thank you Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for presenting a different way of being in this world that works for me.
Exactly, for everything ticked off the list there are at least three more to be added to the list; it actually never stops and racing time is crazy and as you say, very exhausting.
A brilliant sharing Gabriele. I love the memory of being a child enjoying life with space and time. We can all relate to the ease and freedom we had as children.
I often find myself racing against time. I even say to myself ‘here I am racing against time again’. It’s one thing knowing this but totally another to change it. To change it means changing the energy in which I move.
Absolutely the hands on the clock only change when our movement changes!
I agree Rebecca, it is good to bring it back to how we move, are we moving in and with space or are we moving in time and deadlines which feels so restrictive.
As I understand more and more that every moment impacts the next, I can no longer dismiss the significance of how my fingertips feel on the keyboard right now; the care I take over my posture as I sit or the feelings in my hand and arm as I open a door… the details that lay the foundation for the quality of the bigger picture.
Time is only a messurement of movement. It gives us the opportunity to look at how we are and get an understanding of how we live. Time is giving us the reflection, we only need to take the space to be able to observe and see it for what it is.
Exactly Benkt. Time is just a register of movement and moments – moments and experiences that we keep revisiting until we no longer need to revisit them.
To me there is nothing more gorgeous than living in space and not being ruled by time. It feels so lovely in the body, like being on a permanent holiday. Being in time feels dense and heavy, I often feel burdened when I allow myself to get caught up in time. When in space, there is a deep trust and knowing that what is to be done will get done, but in a way where I am honouring me as well as everything around me.
And for me in addition to your beautiful sharing – in space I feel there is so much time to get things done with a great and true quality.
Quite often now if I start feeling rushed, stressed or there is a lot to do I slow down and and take a step back. In this I find I then have a choice as to how I do what is needed. The job will still get done but the quality will vary and this is what is important to consider.
A perfect way to allow ourselves to make a true choice. What a supportive thing to do and so easy – just take a step back.
‘And in that space, time does not matter, it is not my enemy and I don’t have to compete with it.’ Trying to compete with time will never work, I realise it is a waste of time as your blog is telling us.
We can live in time or space; one will offer compression, and the other expansion.
I love the memory of playing as a child, the summer holidays went on forever with endless spaciousness, there were no external thoughts or worries, simply the focus on the day we were playing in. I’m meeting up with an old friend I haven’t seen for 30 years with whom I used to play with in the holidays, the connection we had has lasted with the occasional Christmas card because of the connection we had all those years ago. The spaciousness is lovely to return to in our everyday work.
A few days ago I learnt the word ‘deadline’ came from the civil war- when prisoners were put in an area and circled by a line in the dirt. That line was called a deadline because if it was crossed the prisoner would be shot. It goes to show how far we’ve come from the original meaning of words.
This blog also shows how we have made time so important, when really – if we do things in space, then we give our bodies what is needed to deliver what is needed.
I find that when I am rushing, it is because I am making the task something that will define me as who I am to those whose opinion I care about. So I push myself harder than usual and break all the loving boundaries and protocols I have set up for myself in my daily rhythm, all just to gain the approval and the acceptance of someone else. This kind of thinking has, at its core and ultimately, only myself as its main concern – that is it is all about me, and so not the quality of my work or the quality of my presence in the room are taken in to consideration. The reality is however, that I do not actually like this way of being or of living with other people. And so I like what is talked about in this blog, how we can simply just slow down, and take the time to be focussed, to be conscious of the quality we are working in, and to remain with ourselves. This, I feel, adds to the whole quality of life, and does not limit us to the one-dimentionality of purely doing for recognition.
Great point – we push and shove and drive out of a need, the need for recognition from others for what we have done. And everything is downhill from there.
Good Medicine is exactly what it is Gabriele. Your body was a clear indicator on how letting go of the conformed lineal way of approaching life and using time as the reference or gauge as to what and where you ‘need’ to be. Taking that and letting go of it is absolutely medicine. I would always get into a pushing energy to get things done as quickly as I could to leave work to get home – once I stopped this, actually enjoyed myself in what I was doing, taking care in what I was doing, taking time to connect and say a proper good bye with my team and reflect on the day, the quality in the way I felt going home in was completely different. I felt lighter in my body, my head was much clearer, my shoulders weren’t touching the sky and everything feels like it is balanced.
The hourglass full of sand is time. It doesn’t matter how big or small the sand clock is, time is time. Turning the clock over doesn’t give you more just the next time. When we try to race it becomes like gravity that always will have the same period and final result. When we discover how to enjoy these moments with out worrying about the end, time becomes’s child play once again.
‘…as children we live in that space, we spend all our time in it. Do you remember the endless- and spaciousness of each moment, lived and experienced from and in a little body that is present with and in itself?’ I do remember Gabriele and i am bringing myself back to that incredible way of being that left me complete in every moment and wanting for nothing.
That’s beautiful, Jenny – you complete the statement so expertly: “… that incredible way of being that left me complete in every moment and wanting for nothing.”
When we rush and say we ‘have no time’, what we’re really saying is ‘I’m choosing to move in a way that is in avoidance of my relationship with evolution’.
Our perceptions of time rob us of space.
It feels so beautiful to let go of time and live in space as children do and what we all know inside us. Getting back to this is a very honouring and real way to live with our health and well being restoring harmony and flow back to our lives.I am finding that each time I feel a rush to do things come in and pressure I am remembering this blog and sharing Gabrielle and I smile to myself and stop to reflect.
I am on holiday at the moment reading this book Time and man oh man what a mind blowing experience. This book alone could revolutionise the way we do everything, if only we can fully grasp its meaning and change our relationship to and how we look at and perceive time.
I wholeheartedly agree – the book ‘Time’ by Serge Benhayon is a game changer and revolutionises the way we perceive time and work with time, rather than trying to work against it.
When I was a teenager I had a job working in an Italian restaurant that on the menu was a saying; ‘quality food takes time’ and on the next page was ‘ our service is fast… no mater how long it takes’
I love it, that’s great, a wonderful motto.
I am also not fast at typing. 45 years ago in school, they offered a typing class that at the time was a first at our school to allow men to take the class. I think my fastest score was in the mid-20s for words per minute without mistakes, and I could write that fast. But I did learn to use all of my fingers. I still need to hunt and peck for all the stuff on the ends and the top row of the keyboard. When I am not rushed, there is a quality and fullness in what I write. When you rush anything and especially with typing, what the head wanted and what the fingers produce can be oceans apart. As you have said Gabriele when we are connected, we can never be slow.
Recently I have been experimenting with getting up earlier. My body has been protesting at the early start as I get out of bed, but what I have observed in the rest of the day is so supportive. The day has more space in it! I notice that every task is less rushed because of this and there is a deeper quality of being present with each task and I am in less nervous tension. It seems that getting up earlier is well worth the effort.
Journey into deep space, without having to get into a rocket!
It interesting to note that when we work, consciously, with presence, with space… time is on our side… there is no ‘rub’ , no ‘angst’ no ‘rush’ or pressure to get things done. Yet when we work with time, by the clock, tick the box to get things done to move on to the next task, the forces on our body (and our thoughts) the ‘to do’ ‘to hurry up’ ‘to complete’ are very wearing indeed. This is a great article Gabriele, thanks for sharing!
I recently realized that I actually do more or get busier when I am under my own self inflicted, time limit pressure. Then someone shared with me that they actually slow down when they’re in that nervous energy, and dah, I got it, why did I not think of that, how simple, just slowing everything down brings in the space to feel your own way through something, without any push to get it done by a certain time.
Its beautiful when I experience the warmth and precision I experience when I embrace all the space around me, especially when it is coupled with a purpose that is greater than me…
Going with (in) the flow certainly paid off for you as it will for all.
‘And in that space, time does not matter, it is not my enemy and I don’t have to compete with it.’ – This sentence specifically makes me realise the craziness in how most of us have learnt to chase time. It is restricted, rigid and controlling and the complete opposite of spaciousness.
‘But something was different. What had changed?’ – I love the way you made a stop to ask this simple question – how often do we miss out on a deeper understanding and /or appreciation of our endless opportunities for learning and development, simply because we don’t make the stop and we don’t ask the question.
What I noticed with me is that if I want to be different, like: I should be better in something, would be great to have …., would be great the working day would be over, would be great to be with …., if I could sing like… – any kind of being I should or would like to reach, I get into a pressure. The pressure to reach this or to fight against the pressure. In this pressure my body has more tension, my nervous system is more or less alarmed and my emotions are very on (like being frustrated). There is always something I could better in my life an expression or outfit…so no ‘reaching the point of success’ at the end of this tunnel.
But if I let go of ‘what should and could be’ and just be, accepting and appreciate where I am right now – than, beside an extremely wellbeing feeling a natural pull seems to support me, light and pave my way. Makes life very simple and joyful.
The tension of this race against time is very familiar to me. This familiarity is perversely comfortable. I simply have to remember what it is like to live without this tension and then know something that is really worth working towards.
In one of my work roles I am blessed to be able to frequently expressing about the myth that there must be pain to gain. It has opened up so many areas of life where this is myth is held. What is being expressed in this blog goes to the heart of it – an image we hold about life where something tedious has to be raced through and that it will be ‘painful’ so best to get it over with. Yet the sharing here explodes that myth.
A great point you make here – and the next level would have to be our identification with ‘painful’ or tedious things and how we’d rather hold on and be identified by that.
Isn’t it interesting how when we do not provide any push, we can experience that nothing pushes back.
What a great practical observation Simon. This reminds me of Newtons Law, ‘for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction’… the way we live and move can have this same law / forces / tension applied to the human body. When we don’t ‘push’, nothing ‘pushes back’ … And then, we feel space…
“But more importantly – would those potential extra five minutes have given me any joy?” This is very apt Gabriele, in a world that creates faster ways of getting everywhere so they have “extra time”. For what and for whom? For sure you are right, it does not give any joy, only space to drive onto the next task, or squeeze in another project. No heed is given to the quality of energy and movement with which they are carrying it out. It is this quality of gentleness and being present that bring the joy.
I have found that I very often squander that “extra time” I might have gained because I need to recover from the unease and raciness the rush has created – what a waste of time all up!
“To do” lists create rush and stress in our lives and take us away from staying present in our bodies. They have been created to make us more efficient and less honouring of ourselves.
Your blog reveals the fact that we are the ones that create our issues with time.. Time has no issues with us! But most of all, time reveals the quality of our choices so perhaps that’s what we struggle most with.
You are really nailing it here – time does not have an issue with us but is a revealer of our personal choices, and we don’t like it, mostly!
“. . .in that space, time does not matter, it is not my enemy and I don’t have to compete with it.” What a discovery! And such a simple solution to our stress. Gabriele, I love how in this space you were not allowing anything to put pressure on you and you could accept that you were slow and made mistakes and could just observe yourself without judgement.
Taking time to be with everything we are doing really does create space whereas rushing looses time and quality and leaves one feeling tired and stressed. A beautiful blog offering so much .
Thank you Gabriele. This blog represents true perfect timing to me in more ways than one. I can feel that my obsession with beating the clock turns life into a battle ground. It feels far more expansive to simply enjoy each moment and do what needs to be done.
I agree, a war against time is a hopeless undertaking and super stressful; it is in fact a war against ourselves, based on the wrong understanding of what time signifies and is there for.
The origin of the word deadline was from the US civil war. Southern POW forts were built with trees cleared in a forest and anyone caught between the wall and the cleared area of trees to the woods, and that was called the deadline, anyone caught in this area was dealt with by the guards on the wall. It meant what it said. Today we have deadlines, but no one dies for not reaching them. Deadlines are things outside of us imposed by others or by ourselves wasting our own time. When we try and go faster all do is make mistakes faster.
You say that today no one dies for a deadline – but we can certainly wreak havoc to our health and wellbeing if we hand over to them and get racy, rushed and anxious.
I love it Gabrielle “when I don’t rush, I am not slow!” This is huge for me too as I always have the tendency to rush in doing things because there is so much more to do. But when I return to live in space, like when I was a little child, I still have the same output in quantity but the quality I am in and deliver in who I am and what I do has completely changed as it is in appreciation of my being and of the situation I am in.
It is extraordinary isn’t it… how time is so convolutedly wired into our heads… and how our experience of it can change so radically.
Being present with what I am doing and taking that to a point of completion seems to elongate time in a way that I adore. It provides space for what is important in my life.
Great point, Ariana – we do fall for the same set-up every time, over and over again and it is still not working; maybe it is, as you suggest, time to make a few changes?
How often have I beaten myself up because I ran out of time, or left things to the last minute and had to go into rush mode. Sometimes I would not start a project because I felt that the drive to get things done in that last minute would make me feel racy and lead to me getting a fix of adrenaline that always came when I left things to the last minute.
Good point – we might say we don’t like the rush but when we look into it more deeply we discover that we actually get an adrenaline fix that we might have become addicted to in order to keep going.
Then I have felt to slow down or take a rest and needed a coffee to relax and this then also becomes addictive.
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Time is definitely a learned response – a child never considers how much time anything will take until they are going somewhere. To me, this is because the space they are in is out of their control. I remember always asking ‘how long now?’ on any trip. So what type of time warp have we developed as we grow up!
There is a lot to learn here Gabriele. I quite often push myself but the results are not any better for it. To be in the moment getting done what needs to be done without pressure is the way to go. I really enjoyed reading all of the comments too. Thank you all.
Since learning more about the difference between time and space, I’ve become much more aware of how I rush things and leave them until the last minute. This creates stress in my body, which leaves me in a state of tension and anxiety and less aware – it’s the perfect excuse to not take responsibility and feel like a victim of life, and of time.
Now that I’ve started to see this pattern, I’ve been able to start to change it – to realise that when we stay present with what we’re doing, more often than not, there is enough space so that whatever needs to get done, gets done. It’s not an overnight job, as the momentum of rushing is pretty strong – but in every moment I’m aware that there is a choice of how to do things: to rush through and get it done, at whatever expense to my body and the quality of the work, or to focus and get it done in the time it takes, with the focus on the quality of energy I’m in – which then leads to a higher quality piece of work.
Two things really stand out for me in your contribution: 1) that living with what time offers is not an overnight job because there is such a strong momentum of rushing and trying to beat it and 2) that there is enough space to do everything that needs to get done.
Time is a funny thing we are always trying to beat! It is like trying to make a ruler longer or shorter, or make the sun rise in the west, it is what it is. It all comes down to how we fill the moments in-between every second that we have complete control over.
I appreciate how practical your approach is – time is what it is, it is up to us to deeply understand and live its blessings and not try to fix something that doesn’t need fixing; all that is happening is that we haven’t been told what time really is and means, until Serge Benhayon did so, that is.
I had a gorgeous day at my desk yesterday catching up with work, reading and writing. What I was aware of was moments of anxious grip about what needed to get done that was a belief and imposition about windows of time and what had to be achieved in them. These made no sense and exposed my habit with time. Great moments of exposure and therefore opportunities to review and refine my behaviour.
What I love about this sharing is the honesty that there was no ‘miraculous quick fix’, i.e. that suddenly all of your typing skills, etc, Gabriele, might have ‘stepped up’, ‘sped up’ and changed.
What you’ve brought attention to is the quality in everything that we do, and our ability to remain in touch with our inherent joy and understanding of how, once no longer owned by the ‘push or rush’, that there is a true miracle – our reconnection to ‘space’, as Serge Benhayon has been presenting and writing on for some ‘time’ now 😉 A massive paradigm is being shifted, in the simplest of moments…
Just reading this blog, I felt myself rush a little, and was called to step back (into myself) and appreciate every word. I realised I’d let an external factor of ‘time’ and the way I’d decided I needed to utilise it, diminish my connection to the reading. Allowing the ‘rush’ in actually ended up using more time – crazy, what we do, and how we actually abuse our own quality of being in the process…
This is a sharing that much of the world, as it currently is, may well discount, but one that holds absolutely golden keys for our own well-being, and as you say Gabriele, the Joy that is there for us to connect to in our 24/7 experience of life.
I can either live my life in conflict with time (and feel the assault I inflict on my body); or in harmony with space and time and feel the ease of a life being lived with the fullness of being – a way I can choose to live should I choose not to align to the conveniently false beliefs about life needing to be a struggle and hard.
My mornings and days have been very much linked to this blog of late. It’s funny how watching time or the clock can have such a big impact on what we do or how we do it. It’s not that we don’t respect time either but more how we are, the quality we are in every moment of time that counts. It’s something that I keep coming back to, just stay with the moment, deeply.
My neighbour used to say ‘ time is the enemy’ as we bought into and created a battle against time, but to stop battling is to allow what is and the spaciousness is there.
Remembering a simpler time when I was a child, days were endless and stress and deadlines non existent, but I do remember the pressure exerted to get us out the door on time. We learn this rushing, anxiety filled way, it’s not our natural way at all and we override our sense of space to fit the pressure we self impose to align to time.
Thank you Gabriele , I love this ‘I got to feel the true blessing of time – the revelation of time as space. And in that space, time does not matter, it is not my enemy and I don’t have to compete with it.
My grandson has just spent a few days with us. There is no point watching the clock when he sits down to eat. He is very chatty and very interested in every little thing that’s going on around him. I hate the idea of rushing him, so I ask, why do I rush myself?
Thank you Gabriele, I like how you observe and describe life in detail and the very practical approach you take. It simply makes sense and allows for more awareness to then bring these realisations into daily life.
I feel so much a beautiful rythm in your writing,, Gabriele and as such rushing does not mean being slow. This is something worth introducing into my life.
“..in other words, when I don’t rush, I am not slow”. Absolutely true, as I have found doing my study, that when I am present with the task, there is so much more space that takes away any anxiety or stress, then your left to enjoy the process.
Gabriele, what a beautiful understanding that we are not slow simply because we are not rushing. It exposes how much we can rush about in the world and that becomes our normal if we don’t observe this. The truth you’ve found, is that by not rushing, we can work, rest and play in the true flow of the body.
I love these words ‘when I don’t rush, I am not slow!’ as they make such sense. It feels like the whole human race puts such emphasis on being ‘quick’ and yet what is truly achieved, as so often the time that was so called ‘saved’ is wasted unwinding from the ‘rush’. When I take time to appreciate the love and care of being connected to my body I realise that my day is extended as I feel more vital and able to work for a longer time. This is very much a work in progress.
Great point – when time has been so-called ‘saved’ we end up having to spend it on unwinding from the ‘rush’. It couldn’t be rendered more succinct, this self-created dilemma of ours, thank you for the clarification.
I have found living with children an amazing way of learning to be with the present, any rush or push and they can respond with resistance or become buzzy and stressed. I have learnt to offer space, and be with the flow of life. They have been any amazing reflection to learn from. They are young still and how we talk about time and space is awesome, I can feel spaciousness in how they relate to it, long may this be enjoyed, as I also rekindle my relationships with space.
“A race against time”. This is so familiar. It’s something I do all the time. My life is full, and often I find myself trying to fit it all in, compartmentalizing time so I’m super organised, planning ahead so I know what I will do when. It’s all an effort to control time so I get the upper hand. It stems from an anxiety of not having enough time and a fear of becoming stressed. There have been times when I have dropped this and allowed life to unfold at its own pace without the anxiety or thinking ahead. It feels totally different, and surprisingly there is the space and time to get everything done.
I recently got aware how senseless it is to put myself under pressure because of time. I realize that rushing does not get me quicker to the goal.
When I am relaxed I more easily get my tasks done.
It often surprises me how someone’s concept of time can be so different from an-others. Perhaps it is about how much we can get done in an amount of time and that is how we measure the length of one hour as opposed to another hour. Interesting that time can ‘drag on’ when we’re at work, or waiting in line and minutes can feel like hours, yet time can speed by when we are focused or enjoying an activity. Time never changes, speeds up or slows down – so how come we all experience it so differently?
The way we use time is like a ‘fun-sucker’. Meaning that when we are reached against time we are void of the enjoyment that each moment is offering. Our whole focus becomes time limited and reduced to the second, like we are boxed in with no space to breathe or smell the roses. Great to ponder further on this and our relationship with time.
Reading this raises the awareness about how normal it is for almost everybody to not only race through a task, but consistently race through every single day of life. Just to save those 30 minutes a day that you in the end spend in illness and disease to recover from the marathon – from running away from yourself.
I love reading this as it’s a daily opportunity to practice to allow a flow to my work at work. There are always many tasks. Now I’m allowing more of a rhythm to completing them, they still may not get done more quickly (though some are because I’m clearer in what I have to write) I’m not as stressed and frazzled at the end of the day. I’ve dropped some of my beliefs around having to look frazzled or feel frazzled as confirmation I’ve worked hard. Now I’m more discerning of my quality whilst completing a task (yes lots to work on) I’m getting to appreciate actually this is my marker for a job’s quality of service and not outside recognition. Appreciating my quality and feeling this coming through what I do is way lovelier than any recognition.
Feels like we might have an attachment to hardship and things being difficult, especially when looking frazzled is seen as some kind of (very strange) proof of our worth.
I love how you describe the ‘fight’ against time. Do we really think we can outsmart it or ‘win’?
When we don’t set ourselves a time limit and put ourselves under pressure to meet that deadline, we allow ourselves the space to express what needs to be expressed.
’I had started a typing job on my computer and knowing that I tend to rush these ‘uninteresting and boring’ tasks, I decided to be very conscious not to speed up but to stay present with me and in what I was doing and feeling, rather than just getting the job done, no matter what.’ – It is interesting what you highlight here Gabriele, we tend to classify the tasks in our lives very differently, why is it that some things seem uninteresting and even boring when other things get our full attention and presence.
I too have experienced that when I stay equally present in everything I do, there is no difference, because I am first and foremost with me before I do anything and this makes the whole experience supportive of me rather than draining or stressful because I dread doing it. To get out of the ingrained patterns around this I find is a forever learning and development.
This is such a great exploration of how we unnecessarily put pressure and stress on ourself simply because of the way we choose to look at things.
Valuing ourselves and feeling we are worth giving ourselves the space to express whatever it is that we are doing is a key to living with expansion rather than feeling caged by time.
We base our worth on how much we get done, but don’t always stop to feel our worth already there in it all. The race we enter is a race against ourselves and we also take on the role of the time keeper and the official.
I am no longer letting myself be at the complete mercy of the clock and the impact on my life is huge. I am much more purposeful and steady rather than angst and stressy…
When I am in a hurry to get something done I miss the opportunity to connect with who ever is with me.
I come back to this blog often as it reminds me to stay present no matter what I am doing and how quickly I think it needs to be done. I so need to be diligent as I can find myself speeding up, when there is never a need…so back to the body…back to presence….back to creating space.
Yes to this article being inspiring support not to race against time – reminding us not only of the futility of this but also the harm it does.
I loved your blog Gabriele, I especially enjoyed the difference you uncovered between how you could be and how you actually were and yet all in the space of ‘the same time’. It is that we arrive at the same point in the day, regardless of how it is that we get there, so why not make our way there via our choices to stay present and connected to who we are and actually enjoy our moments and thus lives as opposed to rushing through them or ‘getting somewhere’ at the expense of such enjoyment.
an awesome expose of the game we get fooled by – all the pressures and deadlines that we impose upon ourselves to just create raciness and stress that keeps us from accessing space, greater connection and the awareness that is on offer to us constantly – but instead we choose to be fooled to stay in the comfort of the familiar, no matter how uncomfortable it may be.
This is just beautiful Gabriele. No deadlines, no pressure, no time.
I know many people in very senior positions who get very stressed by time, even though we can live in a way that this stress happens much less often.
“I had not set myself a deadline (strange word that, a ‘dead line’) and thus there was nothing to measure myself against. Speed had become irrelevant and I was not competing with time, trying to outdo, outsmart, outrun or even overtake it.” I couldn’t agree more Gabrielle! ‘Dead line’ is indeed a strange word when you break it down like that and interesting to note that when you chose to work without this pressure your writing flowed and you felt very different doing it. It makes me consider that putting a ‘dead line’ on ourselves stops any potential vitality and an evolutionary flow that could other wise be there, paving the way for who knows whats next!
“when I don’t rush, I am not slow!” What a discovery, and one to really appreciate. I know I tend to judge myself for being slow if I am not rushing, but actually this is not the case at all. There is simply more space in which to move and therefore there is a freedom in my movements that can be perceived as slow but in reality is no slower than if I were to be full of tension and trying to move fast.
“There was a definite lack of something to rub against” It is an amazing moment when we realise that we can work, accomplish things and go about our day without any aggravation or tension to identify ourselves by or make ourselves seem important. When we connect with our inner stillness, it is possible to move through our day with grace and harmony, enabling our daily life to flow unhindered by emotional tensions and self created dramas and when we do, then we allow ourselves the opportunity to disentangle ourselves from our false identities and get to know who we really are.
I realized today that no matter how stressed I am, no matter how much I react on the so called time frame, no matter how I seek to make up time, I never am quicker at my so called goal than I think I could be. I am govered by the movement of the earth, the universe and I only have 2 choices: Either you align to this movement or you resist it. The alignment brings lightness into ones life, the resistance makes life hard and complicated.
I really feel the difference between space and time, the difference between creating space and trying to save time. Creating space allows me to maintain the quality of what it is that I am doing and allow for flow. The time it takes is only a measure. When I try to save time, the quality cannot be guaranteed nor can I allow for flow as I am using an arbitrary measure to try to control a process rather than allow the process to follow its natural course with time being the simple measure that it is.
I love what you write, very precise and scientific, true science lived from the body in everyday life: “When I try to save time, the quality cannot be guaranteed nor can I allow for flow as I am using an arbitrary measure to try to control a process rather than allow the process to follow its natural course with time being the simple measure that it is.”
Hello Gabriele and I get what you say. The dedication to this, “I decided to be very conscious not to speed up but to stay present with me and in what I was doing and feeling, rather than just getting the job done, no matter what.” in every moment creates so so much space in your life. For me it’s not that you don’t speed up it’s just you are dedicating to being in every moment, every movement. For some it may sound crazy, tedious or otherwise but for me it’s a choice that leave my body feeling no impact from the world. This is the only way to live and while nothing is perfect as we see it, this is certainly the most supportive for me.
This way of staying present and with every moment, moment by moment, leaves no impact on your body from the world, its demands and pressures – amazing observation, thank you Ray. There is always so much more to feel.
Great points Gabriele. One of my biggest problems at work was rushing things to beat deadlines in an attempt to please others. But as a result I would hand in shoddy work with mistakes and feel not just racy but a huge relief when completed. I now do the work for me and at my own pace – some people work quickly and some don’t. As much as I wanted to be the former, I’m the latter. And that’s cool with me as the rushed, mistake-riddled work I handed in the past is just that, a thing of the past. Thanks for bringing awareness to this topic!
What’s interesting is how many of us can say we have no time or in a rush but what exactly are we filling our time or space with? Watching TV, surfing on the net, getting stuck in a book etc and then leaving other jobs to the last minute hence making it normal to rush and race.
It’s interesting you say you took speed out of the equation Gabriele, sometimes I find myself in something of a hurry to do a task but there is no actual reason to rush… as though the more things I can get done, the greater the reward. Bringing ourselves back to the quality we are in and what that brings to a task is something badly needed for our own health’s sake!
“All there was – was the space to do what had to be done but I hadn’t squeezed this doing into one of my usual to-do boxes…” How simply refreshing!
Time is not and has not ever been our enemy. It simply exposes our lack of relationship with space, and responsibility.
Wow, how succinct is this! Time “simply exposes our lack of relationship with space, and responsibility”. That feels spot on and exposes how easily we can be fooled by our own story.
This is so brilliant what you share Gabriele: when we don’t rush against time and push ourselves to compete against ourselves, to achieve an imagined finish we actually have access to space, with much more lightness in our body because it isn’t busy trying to work against it’s self as well as do the task at hand.
‘I had not set myself a deadline (strange word that, a ‘dead line’) and thus there was nothing to measure myself against. Speed had become irrelevant and I was not competing with time, trying to outdo, outsmart, outrun or even overtake it.’ Agreed Gabriele , dead-line is a very interesting word – flat and dull when we buy into it as our only focus and goal.
Hence why children don’t experience a lot of stress and often aren’t interested at all in time. It’s only because we adults live by time pretty much all of our days that children choose to learn to understand time in the lineal sense and unfortunately most of them loose slowly the connection with space. It’s incredible how children just surrender to whatever they do, without worrying about ‘in time’, ‘too late’, ‘what do I have to do next or later’ etc. Thank God for the experience of space when we’re young, which offers us the possibility to return! If we so choose.
Sometimes we can be so focussed on time and meeting deadlines we forget about people andbegin to hurry them along to meet a picture we have in our heads. It takes nothing to step back into space and wait patiently until another is ready. Often, when we do this, we are given the space we need to get everything done and meet commitments or appointments. This way eliminates tension and anxiety
Just stopping to feel my body on busy work days is enough to show how detrimental racing against time and expectations on length of time is. My shoulders are up around my ears, stomach is upset and breathing in drama and complications. Staying present with what I am doing, instead of using the drug of anxiousness and stress, is that I, the job to be done, the person receiving the output and everyone I work with feel a completely different quality and are not bombarded by more of the same issues of time. Awesome experience and wisdom to read Gabriele, before going to work and getting ready for the day. Thank you
It’s harder not to run against time, when everybody around me is running against time. Said in another way: if I don’t run against time, it is at the same time in service for everybody around me.
Take time, discover space.
And no NASA or any funding needed, brilliant!
Which is why they’ll never discover it!
When we don’t rush we can work much longer hours without getting tired and work is *much* more fun.
Great inspiration, I tend to do things hasty and with the energy of ‘just getting it done so I can do the next thing’. Your blog inspires me to observe today how I do thinks and let go of any deadlines that I put on myself.
There may be more than the turning of cogs and movement to the adage of ‘it’s clockwork’ – clock and work linked together couldn’t be more true in my experience.
There is all the space in the world when we cease running to a clock.
What you’ve shared is so true Gabriele – time is not the enemy, and trying to compete with or race time (as I’m sure we’ve all experienced) often leads to a frazzled and tense feeling in the body. Is this impossible race really worth the harm it does to us?
Another great point to add to what has already been shared is that there is full commitment to bringing all of you to life and to your work when space, such as that in Gabriele’s experience, is there. There is no holding back, no reservations and no emotional attachments to getting the work done whatsoever. This creates a foundation of total steadiness and confidence and allows all that is there to be done, the space to let it be done!
The level of presence we have in the day completely effects how much we are able to bring closure to the day, unwind and deeply rest. Reading this article has reminded me of how supportive and key conscious presence is. We can let our mind trick us into thinking we are more productive with many things going around in our heads and thoughts, but our body and it’s inability to rest at night will tell the truth.
I wonder why it was called ‘deadline’ – is that because we kill ourselves to meet it? We often have jobs that need doing by a particular time and it is easy to go into overwhelm and delay everything simply because of the emotional overload that stops us from thinking clearly. making space as opposed to fighting time feels a far better way to approach all projects, knowing that everything will get done.
I love this Gabriele, thank you. it’s another one I can see myself returning to. Without conscious presence I have been and can be a whirling mess in my head and very tense in my body. It is often the ‘small’ or ‘less important’ activities in which i experience this check out and tension the most. by contrast when I bring conscious presence to the details and the simple tasks, I am paid back in feeling connected and present in my body which is gold beyond measure. We are busier than ever these days- so perhaps that’s just more opportunities to stay present with ourselves
I definitely remember being in a ‘little body that is present with and in itself’ Never would i have thought that it was possible to live that way again. I’m learning that it is!
Most people feel that they are galloping through life at break neck speed, like a startled horse we lunge over obstacles, barely clearing them, our eyes fixed on some imagined mystical finish line, always just ahead of us. Unfortunately so many of us fall prey to injury or illness before we make the finishing post, our injuries and illnesses occurring as a direct result of how we have chosen to live our lives.
Taking away the slightest effort to make something happen fast sounds like great medicine, thank you.
I have also felt how that rushing then continues through the rest of day affecting the quality of my work and I can be a little more impatient and edgy and cranky all because of a choice I made. Even rushing out of bed in the morning affects my whole day. I stopped sleeping in years ago as I realized the awful I felt when I rushed through my morning.
Gabrielle, I love what you are sharing here, this is very profound and makes complete sense, I often have the feeling that Im racing against time, but as you say the job will take as long as it takes, I can feel how I have had a lot of judgment about myself, that I am too slow and I put this huge pressure on myself, nowadays whenI feel this rush I bring myself back as I know it feels awful in my body and doesn’t help me work faster or get anywhere quicker.
When I am present I feel so much joy as I am connected to God and the Universe.
A beautiful and very supportive sharing Gabrielle that is life transforming thank you. It has made such a difference to life and the rush and pressure that is ever increasing to stop take stock and not rush in any moment but allow oneself to simply be collectively with it all in a quality that makes all the difference and allows the flow to be harmoniously lived.
I find no matter what I do when I am present and focused, I love doing it.
We are eliminating the time warp!
This blog is such a great reminder to stay present no matter what, to be100percent focused on what the task at hand is. I am being reminded this constantly by my soul. The other day I was not present, so did not notice my car lights stayed on, normally they go off once the ignition is off but this time no…lack of presence and …yes… a flat battery.
On my morning commute to work on public transpiration here in London, I observe daily lots of people that must not have enough time? Or, maybe this is a new exercise to keep fit! They seem to run to the bus, and the train just so they can sit down or stand up and not move. I like the ones that run and jump through the closing doors of the train… when there is another coming in one or two minutes. Flying first class or economy is another one; the whole plane gets there at the same time. We can all live a First class life, and it costs nothing by not rushing, we don’t get there any faster we just have more space.
I love your example of flying first or economy class: we all get there at the same time, but the quality we do it in is different.
I can feel how when I rush I make the task more important than anything else. I make it more important than me, than others and more important than the whole. Therefore is this not actually a choice full of self? If I were to get myself and all my anxiety about finishing a task out of the way I would be left with a greater awareness of what is actually needed, and give myself space to pay attention to the quality with which I do things, which ultimately serves more than anything else.
This is a massive lesson to learn. It’s so easy to believe that when we are rushing we are going faster. ‘More haste less speed’ is such a common saying that holds a great deal of truth.
Or no haste, no waste!
Its an interesting phase, to “Race against Time” like Time is a racehorse or something. Time is just a measurement, its the quality of how we live that matters. I have found that the more I focus on the quality of my movements and my breath the more consistence my energy becomes and the steadier I work through my day. I can see how much I used to identify myself by being in a rush and ‘too busy’ to take the time to do things properly, skipping over the details and making lots of mistakes in the process. It really is such a waste of time trying to race it.
The title of this blog, Gabriele, already speaks volumes to me, having spent most of my adult life in a race against time. It is so disempowering to let something external dictate your movements to such a degree, creating constant tension. My body is relieved to not be run in this way so much anymore, but to be referred to as the source of truth from which I make my everyday choices.
Since reading this article about a week ago it has really stayed with and supported me as the days go by. Each time I feel the tightening grip of time I now have the inspiration to drop my shoulders and see what it feels like to let it go. The results are worthy of note and I am really amazed by the increasing ease with which my days unfold and complete (I am not battling exhaustion or some need for reward at the end of the day). All super cool. Thank you.
A profound and deeply supportive realisation to share, especially considering how many of us fall for the illusion of needing to get things done and thereby live by a deadline that will come regardless and yet sacrifice the quality that is possible to do so.
There is such a spacious feeling and quality to whatever you do when you drop the tension of time pressure and having to get things done, and tick that box of completing something. That tension is transferred into the muscles of the body and we harden, and this feeds back into the time pressure we put ourselves under. This is the complete opposite to being …”free of pressure and the need to perform or conform – it felt as though I had all the time in the world…”
This brings back the old saying less haste, more speed and I am finding more and more that racing against time is futile and creates unnecessary anxiety and stress in the body.
Yes, great reminder – less haste more speed, heaps more actually because we don’t trip over ourselves in the pursuit of that train that has already pulled out of the station.
‘When I don’t rush , I am not slow!” Brilliant insightful blog. I had a similar revelation myself, Gabriele, about the speed/time it takes to do things. In my case, I realized how stressed I got when I went out together with my family to do anything, shopping, visit places etc. My family members would always complain that it took me so long to do things, that I got to believing how slow I am. They were always waiting around impatiently for me, and complaining how slow I was… I ended up getting out of my own rhythm of doing things, getting really anxious about things, forgetting things etc. And I had the constant tension in my body of having to ‘keep up with them’. I had accepted that their speed of doing things was ‘right’ and I was ‘wrong’. I finally realized recently I wasn’t ‘slow’ and there was nothing wrong with me. I noticed they were impatient and lacked understanding and appreciation that others may have their own way and rhythm of doing things. I also noticed being faster did not make our trips any more efficient or purposeful as things were often forgotten and overlooked. I also requested them to consider ‘slow-ing down’. At times now, we each have the understanding we may need to go at our own pace without having to do everything together.
I appreciate myself much more now that I’m taking the time/space to do what is needed for our outings… being organized to take items that may be needed for the time out or weather, are often later needed and appreciated. Not giving into the ‘sense’ of rush allows me to feel the sense of purpose of what needs to be done, and do it with space and grace.
When we don’t go into the push and drive to get something done but instead do it from a place of steadiness, joy and harmony. Everything that we do from this is a blessing for us all. We can feel the joy and therefore appreciate what we bring even in the most mundane tasks.
We live under the impression that rushing is normal. This underpins the epidemic of exhaustion. It also means that when we go a truly normal, gentle pace, we feel it to be slow. We have given ourselves a solid handicap, but our bodies are our asset because the feeling we have of moving truly normally is gorgeous.
Gabriele, you have hit the nail on the head with this blog – we do get so tricked by time! We put unrealistic pressures upon ourselves to do things in a certain way within a certain time limit, when all along if we allowed ourselves to just pace ourselves more naturally, then we would often get just as much done, if not more (as I have discovered!) and also not feel so tired, stressed and exhausted afterwards!
This deadline thing is a hideous tyrant we create to self-impose undue pressure… and I am fighting one as I type this comment. It feels awful in my body and I can see how I have allowed it to take a hold of me and more so the disregard I was already in to let that happen. I am learning constantly…
“Child’s play in hindsight – literally so, because as children we live in that space, we spend all our time in it. ” I know what you mean, I remember as a child I would play for hours on end on my own being creative and never getting bored, time never ran out, there was so much space.
“When I don’t rush I am not slow” This should be a part of every workplace health and safety principles – Gabrielle this is genius – and thank god for Serge Benhayon!
Oh my God Gabrielle
I love what you are sharing here – “when I don’t rush I am not slow”
This is a Conciousness breaker and needs to be studied.
millions of people drink coffee because they think it makes them faster when I have witnessed it makes them make more mistakes and create complication because they are racy and not present.
I used to love looking busy because whilst I was, it made me feel OK about myself, which was totally false and transient self-worth. Settled and present, my relationship with myself, work and life is steadier, more consistent, purposeful and definitely more productive.
Don’t we all know that one – looking busy, a little puffed up with self-importance and possibly even a couple of strategically placed sighs? Laughable on one hand, but not really.
‘I had not set myself a deadline (strange word that, a ‘dead line’) and thus there was nothing to measure myself against.’ The ‘dead’ part of deadline is a ‘dead’ giveaway – there’s something not right about this word! It reminds me of a public safety message used in parts of Australia to prevent speeding: ‘Better to arrive late than dead on time’. There is a part of us the recognises how buying into a deadline of any kind is a deadly pursuit – injurious to our health and well-being – and is usually encouraged by an ideal or belief, whether it’s “I can’t be late” or “They’ll think I’m loser if I don’t get this done in time”. Interesting that ‘in time’ phrase too. What we’re aiming for is to do what we do in space, not time!
You really do undress and debunk those dead deadlines deftly and truly.
“I had not put any effort into trying to get to that end point earlier or faster and in that I got to feel the true blessing of time – the revelation of time as space. And in that space, time does not matter, it is not my enemy and I don’t have to compete with it. And to top it all off – everything that needs to get done gets done.” Such a beautiful realisation and a beautiful way to live life.
Today I had an interesting experience with time, I am going on holiday and had three children coming over and needed to clean the house so before all of this occurred I took 10 mins for myself and did a massage, time expanded beyond what I can explain, it was remarkable and the joy I felt cleaning was incredible. This stuff is really MAGIC! The real Magic of God not the smoke and mirrors stuff.
‘Deadline’ is a strange word when you stop and think about it!
I love this sharing as I was contemplating this exact thing this morning. I have a big job ahead of me today and my normal approach with this type of work is to go into being a bit anxious and racy to get it all done. However, I was already feeling, if I am able to drop this pressure and just be with the tasks, connect with everyone involved and enjoy the process of the work- I will still get it all done in the same day but the quality of the work and how we will all feel afterwards will be very different.
We are often very hard on ourselves and put a lot of pressure on ourselves to do things faster and better. Who and what are we measuring this by? It is like we know our capacity and then set an even higher expectation for ourselves. We can be our own workplace bully.
I have found that we can be our worst workplace bully, far more precise and precisely targeted than any other person could ever deliver it.
These wise words that ooze with commonsense, need to be on display in many places in my house, and even in my car: “when I don’t rush, I am not slow!” What a belief shattering statement – a belief that, the faster I do things the more I get done. This belief was well overdue for shattering, as it has been the living of it that has left me in exhaustion on way too many occasions. It is so timely to replace this destructive belief with this wise and life changing knowing: “when I don’t rush, I am not slow!” Thank you Gabriele.
Lovely reminder Gabriele. We may as well enjoy the journey and not just at the finish line. Enjoying the process of a task also feeds us back more when we do complete it.
I’ve previously expressed in my comments how relevant this article is to me. In reading it again this morning it reminds me of my impatient driving. How often I’ll be trying to outrun the traffic, get somewhere quicker. But what is the reality of getting there quicker? Could it be 5 minutes maximum? We believe we are chieving so much more when we’re are caught up in this whirlwind of go go go. But the truth is, as very clearly pointed in this article, is that with time pressure we allow no room to enjoy whatever it is we are doing. For the sake of 5 minutes possibly even less.
I experimented with the flow of traffic recently when I had put my destination into the GPS; while I was caught up and driven by the need to get there, I gained one minute, one whole minute (which was not worth it, judging from the way i was feeling: uptight and racy); when I let go of the need to get there by a certain time (a dead line again!), the GPS all of a sudden corrected itself and took one minute off the estimated arrival time – go figure!
Unifying body and mind sets an end to the race against time. I love this connection to your last blog submission, Gabriele Conrad, “The Absent Landlord”.
Since first reading this blog, I have been exploring my relationship with the deadlines I put upon myself and I can feel the harm that I do to my body by working towards a deadline. It feels restrictive and there is a constant tension held in my body. When I let go of the deadline, there is a spacious in my body, a flow, an ease and things still get done and in the same amount of time (probably in a less amount of time), yet I feel so different. I am constantly reminding myself that I value the quality in which I do something and how I feel when I do it over the created deadline.
I’m becoming more and more aware that in my job, time actually doesn’t exist. If I allow myself to go with the flow of the day (litterally), there’s exactly that amount of time that is needed for the jobs that need to be done. That is quite incredible and I can feel that there’s much more at play and that I’m supported from all angles to do what has to be done during that day. If I’m surrendered to the day, I highly enjoy the day and it feels very spacious. Where if I get caught up in time, there’s certainly no joy and the same (or possibly less) can be done. Time and stress go hand in hand as well as appreciation and space.
It is lovely to observe children play with the level of presence and true joy in their movements, there is much here for us to consider and break through the illusion that time will get us somewhere as it is only through the connection to our bodies that we create space and flow in our lives.
Gabriele, I find this too. When I just allow the space to be there for what I need to do there is always time to do everything even when I am very busy. If my workload looks very full things seem to naturally drop away or unexpected help is offered and everything is completed naturally.
Wow what an experience to truly step out of time and be in space. No time machine needed!!!
Time haunts us if we let it! Time stands still when we are present, and then it becomes apparent that life is about quality.
I’ve decided I need to read this article as often as I remember to. It is such an awesome reminder of the trap we call time. It’s ‘time’ to call it out.
This is so true Gabriele – is a scraped together and rushed 5 minutes really worth it? I know when I rush through things to “save” some time, I almost end up having to take a rest for 5 minutes to get over the rush!! What I actually lose is my quality and no amount of time is worth that.
We are moving anyway so it is wiser to choose to make our movement a spacious and joyous one.
Yes what makes us all want to do things in a certain time? Your blog really exposes how it does not work and that it does not matter if we rush or if we ‘take our time’ time wise. What the big difference is though is the quality – the quality of the time spent rushing is so totally different from the quality when we take the time. The first being draining and unpleasant and the second being enjoyable every moment.
Today at work on the ward in the hospital I experienced space, where there was enough time for all that needed to get done, without the usual feeling of being under pressure due to time restraints. I felt very connected to my body whilst doing things, and I went about doing what was needed with love and tender care. Despite the fact I came home later than usual, was caught in the traffic, I didn’t get affected by it and didn’t feel exhausted.
Just goes to show that one thing leads to another – rush to more rush and lack of presence on one hand and focus and presence to enjoyment and a feeling of spaciousness on the other.
The expression ‘Time is a great healer’ is an interesting one. It may be more appropriate to say ‘Space is a great healer’, becasue as soon as we relate to ‘time’ we put a measure on how quickly or how long something will or may take, whereas when we let go of time and focus on the here and now in every moment there is no pressure, but simply an opening up for what is there to take place with no stress or anxiety anywhere to be seen. Giving ourselves the ‘space’ to recover from an illness will allow so much more to take place than just the physical healing, and offers us an opportunity to reflect on how we got sick in the first place and to make changes in our lives to live differently from that point on.
How much more simple it is when we don’t set ourselves deadlines to finish a job. Then we do not feel that we are racing against the clock. It actually makes such sense to approach tasks in that way, so often when we are rushing to finish something we make so many mistakes that have to be remedied, that it actually takes more time to do the job. I must admit that I do not always take that approach, but am endeavouring to do so much more, and when I do, I find that I have actually made more space in my day to do the extra tasks that may appear.
Thank you Gabriele, this is confirming of when we allow our job/task/day to unfold through the day everything is actioned and I usually find more is done than was planned. Whereas when I put pressure on MYSELF whether this is time, have expectations or how something should be done it is less likely to be finished or does not flow as it could.
A race against time says so much about life and how it is lived in our current age and the constant speeding up of life .I love reading this and the light it brings to what is really going on. Time is a marker on earth but is an illusion that we can open up and expand on allow a flow of harmony and joy to our lives when understood and mastered with our presence and quality honoured.
Love what you share here Gabriele, that with a conscious presence and focus on the job at hand there can no longer be that little something to rub against or get hassled by – as there is nothing other at play to create friction or issue.
I remember when I used to work as a waitress in a very busy restaurant. I used to get so stressed at the amount of things I had to do in what seemed like an impossible amount of time. One day I felt so overwhelmed that I gave up, went into the loo and cried. I was in there for possibly 10 minutes and it felt like in that time everything that I was responsible for would have fallen apart. To my surprise, when I re-emerged everything was as I had left it, all the people on my tables were absolutely fine, and no-one had really noticed that I had gone. This was a huge lesson for me, and it showed me that time passes and it is me who chooses how I’m going to be within it. The time I spent crying in the loo I could have spent stressing and running about on the restaurant floor for no reason. From that moment on I relaxed and did not allow overwhelm to creep in. I let go of my stress and just did my job. Big lesson learned.
I’ve always had an interesting relationship with time, always wanting more time to do certain things yet also choosing to waste time and “check out” at other points. One prime example has been that I worked out I had spend 2.75 years of my life in front of the TV (based on 24 hours), take out sleeping part and assume a working day is 8 hours then i’ve spent 8.25 years of working time in front of the TV. I am shock just writing that.
Great point – we actually waste oodles of time checking out, that has been my observation as well; whether it is TV, snacking, double checking, time management or daydreaming, it must suit us to stay in the illusion that we are up against time and that there isn’t enough of it.
I have spent most of my life rushing around trying to cram in as many things as possible into my day so that I am ahead of myself but it is so true Gabrielle, it never works, I end up skimming over things making mistakes and being exhausted. The race against time never ends because I would wake up doing exactly the same thing again. I can no longer do this because it feels so horrible in my body and I have to stop or slow down and let my body catch up with me and get back into a rhythm that feels true. When I do this I can work all day without feeling exhausted.
As to the “child’s play” comments that you make – abso-jolly-lutely. A brilliant reflection of how time literally evaporates when presence is total.
Every single thing you say rings so true. The fight against time. So, so crazy to be fighting against something that doesn’t even exist. Thus the question for me becomes – why? Why would I choose to do this? It is actually a massive get out clause. By focusing on time, putting all the energy in to time, allowing time to rule me and enabling it to be such a powerful force…all of this is just irresponsibility…because I am using it as an excuse not to be with, see, and live the bigger picture. It perfectly keeps me within the tight parameters of the temporal. It keeps me playing the game of life.
Great point – the obsession with time cements us ever deeper into the illusion of what we create or can create, the small picture so to speak.
It is interesting how we can rush and push ourselves to gain maybe five minutes but quite often it comes with so much stress that not only do we not enjoy the extra time because our bodies are frazzled, but the job becomes joy-less and a chore, along with putting undue pressure on ourselves.
Gabriele, time is fascinating. The moment I get caught by it I feel my body get anxious and racy, I try to do things quickly and I feel tense and so make mistakes. Yet when I just do things when they need to be done somehow I get them done and more. It is fascinating how much pressure we put on ourselves with time.
Your article Gabriele raises an interesting point – are we any happier if we do manage to finish five or ten minutes earlier but leave behind us a trail of errors made because we were rushing to get finished. There is a real difference in paying attention to the quality in which we are working verses getting the job done just for that sake of finishing it. The two are very different and as you have witnessed, bring about two very different states of being, one that is very grace full and one that is flustered and exhausted. Thus we have a choice, to imbue everything we do with grace or stain it with fluster and rush. Whatever we may think about what we have done, it is these qualities that other people feel when they engage with the end product.
For the first time in along time I went to work without wearing my wrist watch and realised how much I look at and race against time by the number of time times I went to look at my watch-less wrist. I was surprised at the amount of work I had achieved by not being so concerned about the time. I am going to try going watch- less for a while and see how I get on.
Across the street where I work in London there is this massive building site where they are in the process of erecting seven new buildings and currently have eight tower cranes that will be 15 when they fully get going. I enjoy watching the ballet dance that happens with all of the cranes operating slowly and precisely with each other. A job that cannot be fast or done in haste. They work as fast as they can, no matter how long it takes
Interesting how we take time as our enemy instead of seeing the blessing in it, when we know time is there because the earth goes round in itself and round the sun and that it is which makes day and night, so called the movement makes time. Often we want to stop time that’s to say we want to stop the movement of the earth.
I haven’t worn a watch for about 5 years and I always seem to be pretty accurate if I need to know the time for some reason. At work I’m really only aware of time so I know when to switch from Good morning, to Good afternoon and when it’s time to leave! Outside work I enjoy the freedom of not being beholden to a ‘time keeper’, whilst still being aware of what the time is, approximately.
We can turn time into a stern task master and totally give our power away to it; not wearing a watch when possible and not watching every minute or even second is a great start, as watching the time closely and in anxiousness just leads to complications and doesn’t achieve anything.
In my experience everything takes on a different quality when we are and remain present when we are working. Especially if that presence is coupled with stillness.
I work in a job where I am in charge of answering all incoming calls, whilst doing my work. Yesterday I was very aware of really taking my time with each call, not rushing, even if other calls were coming in, I placed them on hold. It really made a difference. I could feel the appreciation from the clients, even if it wasn’t verbalised, they felt the connection we had together during the call and so did I.
Just goes to show that we crave connection and not the outcome of all our hectic doing.
Rather than working to a linear time-line, it feels so much more supportive to work in moments, as in, allowing the space with each task to complete that task and then move on to the next. This isn’t something I’m particularly practiced in, rather I have a tendency to have lots of things on the go and I’m working on being able to bring things to completion so I don’t have so many balls in the air. I can feel that currently I’m possibly using time as an excuse allowing me to delay completing certain tasks. Then I forget about them for a while and when I revisit them there is a sense of rush of needing to complete them as I recognise, I’ve allowed the delay. Such a vicious cycle.
As a society we tend to reward efficiency, people’s ability to work quickly and effectively. However, at what cost, are we aware of all that is lost in the rush? With our focus being on the end result we are blind to the rich tapestry of opportunities, alternative ways/approaches that lie all around us, instead, we have a tendency to follow a pattern that’s familiar to us, because it’s safe, we know it works. In so doing we keep ourselves small and it becomes all about our output and we get totally lost in the process.
When you stay present within yourself, it is actually a well known phenomenon that time seems to slow down. Of course, that is ridiculous. Time is time. However, what does happen is that space is created, and in that space, things seem to flow more easily. Simplicity takes over, and complication unravels.
Hello Gabriele and there is much more to explore around time and space. I certainly need to pick up that book you are talking about and I love this, “I had not put any effort into trying to get to that end point earlier or faster and in that I got to feel the true blessing of time” This makes me laugh because I know its true, I seen and experienced this myself and yet it’s not my first choice, yet. I appreciate that I can read and understand exactly what you are saying and can feel the space in time, thank you.
‘I had not put any effort into trying to get to that end point earlier or faster and in that I got to feel the true blessing of time – the revelation of time as space. And in that space, time does not matter, it is not my enemy and I don’t have to compete with it. And to top it all off – everything that needs to get done gets done.’ Yes, you are not the first person to observe this conundrum – the more we let go of time, the more time (space) we have. Racing the clock is exhausting. Thank you for this timely (!) reminder – or should I say, for bringing us the grace of space.
‘I hadn’t squeezed this doing into one of my usual to-do boxes and seasoned it with haste, raciness and thoughts of being too slow and nor was I sitting at my desk with physical tension or in anticipation of a fast and speedy end result.’ Beautifully expressed Gabriele! Your words resonate with me enormously – this is a perfect description of the kind of crazy pressures I place myself under. As I write this I can feel the unnaturalness of these thoughts: they are of a consciousness I have tapped into – one that places no value in me just being me.
Subscribing to a consciousness “that places no value in me just being me” – so true; when we rush and get racy it is only ever about outcomes and how we look in the eyes of others, it is never about us.
I have a big and lengthy uni project to complete within a certain timeframe and have often felt the pressure of not only the looming ‘deadline’ but the vastness of the project – and have allowed it to overwhelm me, to say the least. One thing that has really helped with this has been a simple understanding of one of my rights as a student – to request time out to ‘stop the clock’. This was something I hadn’t been aware of until a fellow student told me it was possible. Simply having access to that knowledge was self-empowering. Another self-empowering aspect has been learning not to give my power away to the project or any other aspect of it!
I love this blog Gabriele, thank you so much for sharing as I am definitely one who is in the process of understanding the time v space paradox (‘…when I don’t rush, I am not slow!’ – love it!) and who has been similarly challenged by a need to rush, usually self-imposed, sometimes the result of the dreaded work or study deadline. Yet like you I recall the spaciousness of childhood, pre the ‘better, faster, higher’ days that begin to be imposed on us in school, or by parents who were ambitious for us early on. It’s all there within us, naturally so.
This is something I am aware of often – how I can be in space and time and be accepting and allowing of the natural rhythms and cycles – or how I can find myself trying to get x amount done by x time – reminds me of either gently going with the flow or fighting against it like swimming against a rip current. Crazy antics because the rip is the rip and a natural flow of life. So to pit myself against it is very self-defeating, not to mention exhausting!
We use time to fool ourselves that we are moving forward, going somewhere and achieving in life.
Having long been a racer of time, I have always detested the feeling of rush in my body, and yet, chose it again and again. In choosing a different relationship with quality, and time, I am amazed at how space is created – pushing stretching and bending the parameters of time that I used to bend and contort myself to adhere to.
I totally remember those times when I was younger and ‘care free’ as the saying goes. No worries just enjoying that spaciousness and being with yourself doing what ever it was you were doing… So yes a return to those moments we do know so well, that we naturally live with in us and letting go of the demands and pressures we put on ourselves or take on from others. Quality instead of outcome is way more precious and as you say the body loves us for it.
“I decided to be very conscious not to speed up but to stay present with me and in what I was doing and feeling, rather than just getting the job done, no matter what”. This is something you do not always experience either giving or receiving a service — the job does not come with an inspiring wave of touch that you cannot but appreciate. Since being in my working career and what I have observed from others there is no true purpose to work. Its all about deadlines, self-driven ideals, making money, saving money, and not truly about supporting another to evolve. If you mentioned the word ‘evolve’ to work colleagues and clients they would look at you weird. Another way of putting it would be offering yourself in service, no matter what it is, that provides ‘space’ for another to connect to their inner-self and not be squashed or reduced.
There is a lot in this blog and exposes how most people have an issue with their relationship with TIME. I know I do, but this blog has already supported me into trusting how I do things. I so look forward to reading the book on ‘Time’ by Serge Benhayon.
Working with a goal in our heads will always produce a form of stress, which depletes us from the energy we have. In fact, we’re giving away our power (our energy) to something outside of us, created in our heads. It’s great to read a blog like this, that it is possible and in fact just one choice away to stay present and connected in doing whatever job’s being done or asked for. How simple, yet deeply profound, energising and fun!
There is much to consider in what you have presented here Gabriele. Today this line really struck me – “there was a definite lack of something to rub against”. It hit me like a ton of bricks. This is so true – we rub up against something nearly all the time. Be it rushing, resentment, need to look good. There is (almost) always something bugging us when we are doing something. And we wonder why we are exhausted! Your blog shows us that time – which is a biggie for many – can be your friend if you let go of the rub.
Thanks for sharing your understanding Gabriele. We do, I know I have done and still do, cheat ourselves of the possible joy and delight of what is in a moment with the mental drill of all the points you make. Understanding that how we spend our time denotes the quality we will feel within ourselves and imprint on our task is very worth considering how we approach the task rather than focusing on when we finish.
The ‘Purple Book’ titled Time, Space and All of Us by Serge Benhayon (http://www.unimedliving.com/books-ebooks/unimed-publishing-books/time-space-and-all-of-us) has completely revolutionised my understanding of time and turned it on its head! A book well worth reading so as to learn to live with more spaciousness in one’s daily life.
It is awesome to be aware of how I often set myself deadlines when there are none so I can measure and put pressure on myself. It is like a deliberate setup to go into rush, raciness and stress. It doesn’t have to be this way and when I am more loving with myself there is no way I could set myself up in this way because there is then a beautiful flow and sense if surrender and trust in myself that everything will get done. So really just to let go of the control and surrender to the task, as in fully trust what I am doing and let the need for recognition and attachment to results go.
You make it beautifully clear that these pressures are mostly self-created and do nothing but perpetuate the misery of living like this.
I love that someone can run a race, and another person can lie down for a nap, and both of them will arrive at the same point in time, say 4pm no matter what – when I treat time not as an enemy or something to be raced against, I have found it can stretch to create space no matter how busy.
It is indeed a revelation that rushing doesn’t gain us any time, it does indeed gain us angst, nervous tension and stress to deal with. That makes it harder for us to do what we need to do.
i love to discover so much later in life, that rushing isn’t it?
i wish i had grown up understanding this.
Time is not my enemy. This is something to truly ponder on because it is as if time deliberately speeds up, whereas if we are present and not panicking, there is enough time to do the things that need doing. The time as a measurement does not change, it is how we are that does. It is so worth considering that how we are makes the difference and bring ourselves back to that calm and present person.
Serge Benhayon’s book Time is a much needed game-changer.
Great blog Gabriele. Space is definitely a science worth studying – how many of us race the clock and get nowhere?
It’s interesting how you always arrive with a better quality of presence and feeling upon completion of a task when it is done in a way that is without the pressure of time. Regardless of how long it takes, a task will always get completed, but the way it is completed, makes all the difference.
This has happened at work, time expanding or becoming spacious. Especially when I have stayed very present with each phone call I have to make in the morning to patients. When I am steady and connected to myself and then connect with those I phone, the day is simpler, calls get completed quite quickly and the day feels light and loose, lacking in tension of trying to get it done by a certain time. It is often quicker when I take my time.
’As I proceeded I noticed that I did not have the usual self-judgment of being slow or clumsy and also, for a change, the job did not feel tedious (I am not a good typist!). Instead, my work felt open-ended, had no hard edges or annoying streaks and was totally free of pressure and the need to perform or conform – it felt as though I had all the time in the world.’ – This feels like a crucial point, when there is no self-judgment or any sort of imposing of ourselves, this creates simplicity and space.
This blog reminds me of how I can sleep for the same amount of time and wake up feeling like I have slept for days or other times can feel like I have slept for an hour… depending on what quality or space I have been in.
Your sentence about 4pm comes around whether we rush, get anxious, work from our head or driven or work slow really struck me. Why do we not accept that 4pm comes around every day and in the seconds and minutes leading to this time we can exhaust ourselves or be playful and have fun with ourselves. I’m going to reflect on how I am from now until my next 4pm and see if I try and race against time or just be in my day and feel how much space there actually is.
It’s a very good point Gabriele, that all the aggravation we can give ourselves for a few extra potential minutes that won’t actually give us any joy. When we observe our behaviours, we can learn a lot from them to move forward and grow.
If I choose to get caught up in the energy of rushing rather than choosing to be in conscious presence with my body, there is a real discomfort in being ‘wired up’ as the nervous system kicks in to deal with this – the whole day then runs from this exhausting pressure until choosing to stop and come back to awareness of my body in full.
Love this Gabriele, it wasn’t about the outcome but about the quality and how you felt in the process, it totally makes time redundant!
Your sharing confirms Gabriele that we live inside an ingrained set of belief systems defined by repeated patterns that we accept as true. Time as you have expressed, being a classic example. I have had similar experiences with time – it is absolutely fascinating how time becomes important when I am not present or connected to the space that is required to allow time to just ‘be’ what it is – a measurement not the fictitious pressure to which I can give enormous power.
I noticed a big shift when I went into anxiousness about how much I had to do, my shoulders went up, my breathing was more shallow, I wanted to eat and I made more mistakes. It was like I needed to feed the churning engine. Thankfully as we build awareness around rushing in this way, the feeling in the body is so yuk that it makes it really obvious and there is a desperate call to stop and create the right space in which to start again.
‘I also noticed was that my output seemed to be the same, whether I would have been rushing like in the past or staying present with me and attending to every step and nuance as I was doing now’ – This is incredibly groundbreaking in itself Gabriele. Could it be that rushing doesn’t actually gain us any time, just a sense of stress and tension in our bodies?
I love how time is simply a marker of a movement around an orbit. Time is not a reality as shown by what you have presented here Gabriele. Quality of movement is what counts. When I assure the quality of my movement then time becomes irrelevant, things that require more time take more time, things that require less time take less time, but the quality remains consistent.
It is very accurate Susan in my experience. There is a big difference that we can feel in our bodies between rushing (which feels racy and buzzy) and delay (which feels heavy and dull and lethargic) and the flow of naturally doing something at the right ordered pace (which feels light, spacious and settled in the body).
Our frequent use of the word ‘Time’ is interesting, especially as it is in ‘Space’ we need to do things – I too have found that when I let go of the need to rush and be in nervous energy, and stay calm, then I get far more done with ‘time to spare’.
It seems we treat time the same as we treat money. It seems we like to try to hoard time or save up time so that we have more to spend later on something else. But can time really be stored up or manipulated in this way? Or are we exhausting ourselves trying to create something that is flowing against the universal flow of time and space?
Gabriele I heard someone explaining to me where the term deadline comes from, back in the old days during a battle/war the soldiers drew a circle and put all the prisoners in their, then saying if they cross the line they would be dead. Amazing how we now bring that into our work and lives, as if we miss that period in time and we are all dead. I feel its a balance between being present and aware of what needs to be done vs making everything about that deadline. there is lots of things to be done, just how we do it is what counts. As you share their is another way. Some people say they thrive under pressure.
Thank you David, now I finally know where all those deadly deadlines come from!
I can relate here to trying to do something fast or in a rush in an attempt to save time. When I do this I believe that I am some how going to save this enormous amount of time that I will then ‘spend’ on something else more enjoyable or more important. The amount of time that actually gets saved is usually very small as you say Gabrielle and also the quality I am in through the rushing and the drive and how my body feels at the end of it is generally not worth it!
‘Child’s play in hindsight..’ There is a biblical quote about ‘being like children’ that surely relates to this. Children who play spaciously rather than ‘against the clock’. Hmmm – time to be like that child once again.
I have often observed and admired children for their ability to live in a spaciousness free of the pressures of time. They are masters (as we all are) of just being in the moment and enjoying what they are doing.
The common perception of time is that it moves linearly and it is this that keeps us stuck in a race against it. Clock time (pun intended!) for what it really is – a measurement – and we can start to work with it within space.
Gabrielle, wonderful to come to your blog, I find it so supportive to read, I can very much relate to this, ‘Do you remember the endless- and spaciousness of each moment, lived and experienced from and in a little body that is present with and in itself?’ I remember this spaciousness, the joy and lightness of playing and being, there not being a rush or tension or complication.
Oh that word – ‘deadline’ – I can feel the raciness in my body immediately I hear or read it. It may be conducive to getting things done but not getting things complete in the true sense of bringing our presence to what we do. The race against time is a race to stay ahead of ourselves and in disconnection – missing the joy of our inner beingness as we go. A very high price to pay.
It is interesting how we set ourselves up with unnecessary pressure by imposing a deadline. This creates a tension that if it wasn’t there, the tasks would still get done but in a way that felt much better in our bodies.
Making friends with time and not seeing it as an enemy is a gem. So often I have felt frustrated usually because I have turned up late seeing time as a nuisance and putting the blame on it! Building a loving relationship with time where I do not see it as time at all but space, is incredibly healing and loving to my body and something certainly worth appreciating.
Allowing enough time to do jobs I find opens up space to do them in. There is no rushing unless I create a distraction but getting into a momentum of doing jobs in plenty of time allows a flow and ease with which to do them in.
There is always endless moments in time to make space to do what is needed.
I used to think that completing my ‘to do’ list in the time I set out to do it in, I would feel content but 1. I never seemed to finish the list and 2. I would get so racy in the pushing that I could only do so much because I would end exhausted! So in the long run I was never content. It is interesting how we take on ideals and beliefs that are so not us. Getting as much done in the day as possible and thinking it was all about that has been a big one for me but I could never live up to it no matter how hard I tried. My health would always get affected in one way or another. I have got to the point where I realise that my self worth is not based on how much I have done in the day but in the connection to myself and in the quality I do my jobs. My body is my marker and I am learning to listen to it.
To stop being dominated by time is like stepping off a perpetual merry-go-round and having the chance to look around and be present with oneself. Living with a sense of space is very powerful. The quality with which we move and speak is more loving and joyful, as we can feel so much more connected to our bodies and the sphere of God that we reside within.
Work, even those uninteresting jobs is so much more enjoyable when there is no dead line to meet; in fact there is no joy whatsoever when I rush.
I suppose what you are experiencing Gabriele is the difference between a ‘dead’ approach and a living one! Its a quality that arises when we choose to simply stay with our bodies in the moment, focus on the task in hand, prevent our minds from wandering off and ensuring that we do not allow ourselves to become anxious or irritated about what we are doing. I find the more I focus on the quality of my movement and breath, even the most testing of jobs can become light hearted and spacious. I find that if a job is becoming a bit challenging, taking a moment to out to have a drink, go to the loo or have a little walk supports me to come back to my body and gently release any tension. It is the most incredible transformation that as you say is not reliant on altering one’s physical capabilities, but on choosing to make space for what it is we are doing. Same job, same time frame, completely different quality.
This is an amazing revelation to have, time isn’t for us to compete with but to live in the space that time actually is when we choose to stay present with what we do in this space. Time is a beautiful marker of how we are and have been living.
awesome blog Gabriele, and revelatory. What you share holds one of the true keys to dealing with the nervous tension or anxiety that affects nearly everybody.
Today I got so much aware of how we are as little children, surrounded by space and knowing nothing else than space. It shocks me how we are converted as adults and dependant of time. How can it be that we get so far away from our true selfs in our adulthood ?
Absolutely Gabriele, I know this too well for myself, and I love the intonation on deadline being a ‘dead line’ – I had never stopped to see it that way, when it makes so much sense!
What a great article!.. Yes i do remember that spacious feeling as a child. Its interesting how we tend to get
‘herded’ into the ‘thinking’ and ‘doing’ as we move out of childhood and take on a different way of going about things. And yet, this space is always there within, kind of like a parallel universe… everything looks the same yet operates in a slightly different way if we choose to be consciously present.
I love this Gabriele, racing against time is a race one can ever win as it is the racing itself that takes it’s toll. They do not call it a deadline for nothing.
It is interesting how we set ourselves deadlines, goals and assume ways of being that are not our natural way in order to measure, drive or compete against ourselves or others. All for the sake of feeling good about ourselves for a moment through seeking identification through achievement and recognition.
When you describe ‘the no hard edges’ to your typing Gabriele, if feels like the task is expanding spherically rather than moving to the confines of linear deadlines and ideas.
I can feel the beautiful rhythm and flow to your typing Gabriele, when there is no rush or imposed deadline each moment is completed and ready for the next to occur.
What your presenting is very important – a consideration of the quality in which something is done, rather than just the doing of it.
We forget and dismiss that we are surrounded and in space, in fact supported by space in each moment. If we come back to living in space as we knew as children we don’t have to live in separation and struggling against life.
Space brings a greater flow and rhythm to our days as we are more in tune with our own clock of connection i.e our bodies.
The ‘rush’ consumes the joy as we leave ourselves behind.
The way in which we do things is key, how we are in one moment leads us into the next. When we rush, it’s a form of numbing, it becomes all about deadlines, we limit ourselves with time and loose the spaciousness.
It is interesting that the moment I look at the clock and consider that I have x amount of time to do something I can go into the rush mode as if I don’t have enough time even when I have allotted myself enough time, definitely a set up from the start for me to be aware of. It is not about time but space, just the word space gives a feeling of expansion.
I have found when I focus on one task at a time, letting go of any pressure or stress to get a task done in a certain time frame results in everything that needed to get done gets done with quality, no rush, even though there might be a deadline or time limit. If I simply stay present and focus on my task instead of the deadline, I then move and work in a way that flows, I feel a sense of spaciousness and everything just works out.
Reflecting on this blog has increased my awareness around how I set myself up for the kind of experience I am going to have in everything. If I am rushing and not putting the quality of appreciating into my task then what I get back is the same, but if I put in the quality of appreciating and valuing every moment of my task then that is what I get back. Thank you Gabriele – your blog has shifted the way I will approach my day today – much more appreciation.
Gabriele, your exploration with time and how we approach it is very insightful. I love this line in particular ‘when I don’t rush, I am not slow!’ and it gets to the crux of it, we have an idea of the speed we think we should go at, and use time to enforce that to some degree, but fast or slow we still get to that same time, and your line speaks of how we get there, the quality we do things in and how we perceive it all, so yes if we don’t rush we are not slow and the really funny thing you’re reminded me of is that when I do take my time for each thing, suddenly there is space, and often I get so much more done, without pushing or feeling I have to. I want to play with this some more.
I had never considered the word ‘deadline’ until you pointed it out hear. Wow, what are we working towards? Is our attachment and investment in time literally killing us?
It is astounding really, to feel how the affects of our investment in ‘time’ have dominated and literally wipes us out. Imagine the quality of living if we were governed by space rather than the pressures and limitation of time? Our health would be in much better shape that’s for sure.
LOVE this line ‘…when I don’t rush, I am not slow!’ This is perfect!! absolutely perfect. Blows that misconception we have right out of the water.
I started reading this book ‘Time’…and then stopped. I’m inspired to pick it up again and allow it to support me with my relationship with the old clock.
This is a beautiful revelation Gabriele…and one we all need to hear. The fact that the time will always arrive when it does means we don’t need to be governed by it or controlled by it or wound up in it. We just allow the space and time then just becomes a practical measure rather than the dominant feature and ruler of life!
It is absolutely of no surprise to me that I’m reading this article on time the morning after I made a commitment to cut the cycle I was in, in my job. My history with time has been less than desirable and I’ve noticed the ill affect it has had on my body. The tension I experience through my shoulders, back and neck as well as sometimes through my chest feels completely unnecessary. I can feel how I go into the drama of it, how the anxiety of not having enough time get’s bigger and bigger the more you feel you need to add to your list of things to do. It feels like a set up. Like an excuse to not simply be in any one moment, to not be present, to avoid feeling good in order to have something to complain about.
Seriously awesome Gabriele! My relationship with time is quite the toxic one. Of late I’ve been in a particularly tense state with it as I’ve felt completely overwhelmed by my workload. What’s super interesting is that I resigned yesterday…and the moment I did, I felt the pressure lift off…and I just went about what I needed to do and simply did not allow myself to get stressed about it, and you’re right…what needed to get done got done. Not all of it, not even half of it, but whatever amount that was possible in a normal day, I did…and you’re absolutely right…there was less tension, yet the same amount of work completed.
There is sooooo much for me to explore with this.
Love your analytical study of what happened during and after your choice to stay present with the task you were doing Gabriele. I was struck by your honesty, not dressing anything up, but just simple observation – it makes the revelation of time and space all the more compelling!
Making life about space and not time, will turn my world upside down, and challenge how i have lived life, but i will give it a go!
Living with space is like living with the magic of life a child experiences when they play. But we tend to use time rather than a point from A to B, we become governed by it and our lives become restricted. But when we allow our lives to become about the space between the time of A to B, a new quality begins to emerge, we begin to feel ourselves again, and connected to what we are doing, knowing there is enough time! it is worth experimenting with and see what happens. I will bring it into more practice each day.
Haste makes waste!
If I put myself in a race against time then I know it takes the joy out of whatever it is that I’m doing too.. And if I give myself the space to do what is needed then the joy comes back and I feel more open and connected with what’s around me too.
Have you ever noticed how all the traffic lights turn green when you are not in a hurry?
The moment I focus on time and needing to get something done by a certain time tension builds in my body, sometimes I clock it and change the way I’m addressing the task and sometimes I don’t. The moment I clock it and instead of focusing on time focus on the quality of what I am doing space opens up and I find I have all the time needed to get what needs to be done done.
I have experimented with time and space…i work in a very demanding, high pressure job, where it seems there is never enough time in the day to get things done. Yet i have discovered there is always enough time, but only if i connect to the space and not the restriction of time. As soon as i make it about time, i feel rushed, pressured, stressed and so forth. But if i make it about presence, i don’t quite fully understand it, but its like time stands still and there is more time, because i feel a space and in that space it’s like time slows down. I was writing a report, and i stayed very present with it, i felt my body, i was aware and i allowed myself to enjoy what i was doing, i was under a deadline, but it like that hour became like 2, just like when i was a child and an hour felt like a whole day.
Gabriele you have prompted me to consider that time has not sped up with age, i can confidently say that most of us have the experience the older we get the faster time seems to move and suddenly an hour as a child which felt like a whole day, as an adult an hour becomes like 5 minutes, before you know its been an hour. Time stays the same, its from one point to another, yet if we are in our busy, doing minds there’s the notion, never enough time. But if we bring presence, we connect to the space and it is not busy in there, it is spacious. We impose on ourselves what we do in that space of time…time is just passing by, from one point to another…just points.
Hello Gabriele and I have a sense of what you are saying and I know that when I rush or push it’s a waste of time. It’s like in that manic state no matter how minor it is you loose or waste time because of how you move. When my movements change then time changes and as you say space opens up. This is an ongoing development and for me it’s important to appreciate the space when it’s there otherwise you are forever chasing it. Thank you.
Great point – “when my movements change then time changes”. thanks for that.
I love to watch children play. They have no clue what time is and move (play, eat, sleep, do, wash, walk etc.) from one pulse (space) to the other. There’s a natural togetherness and a natural space they’re moving in together. And in that space, there’s naturally only joy. And what I found beautiful is to watch how they easily getting back into this spacious moving when it happens that they disconnect for a moment. From a tear to joy within a second is gorgeous to watch.
It is so easy to get caught up in the ‘rush to get things done’ when the clock is ticking away and there is only a certain amount of time to finish what you are doing. This is something I have to watch out for, but I know that the more I stay focused on what I am doing and stop watching the clock, it is as you say Gabriele, the things get done in the same amount of time but without the stress and pressure that we can put ourselves under to complete what it is we are doing. My body is relaxed and calm and any interruptions can be dealt with with grace and ease.
Taking into account that everything is energy and everything is because of energy, as presented by our modern time philosopher Serge Benhayon, the end result of your typing (or any other thing we do) is a healing for anyone who gets to read what you have done experiencing space.
I can definitely relate to this Gabriele. Often on my days off I have jobs at home that I need to catch up on and I have found that when I allow the day to unfold, feeling into what needs to be done next, the day is so much more enjoyable and spacious, than if I had rushed, ticking each job off a ‘to do’ list. I also get more done working in this way.
‘Or, in other words, when I don’t rush, I am not slow!’ Awesome line Gabrielle and one that is so true. I know I used to be so hooked on getting things done quickly and never being with myself whilst doing it. What I find now is that being with myself while I am doing a task gives me more enjoyment and in some cases I get the task done quicker. And as you say, the benefits are that you get there with less stress and tension and you don’t have that never ending feeling of racing against time.
Often I blend purpose with pushing and slowing down with distraction, but you show that with purpose by staying present the task it gets done in a far superior quality.
It’s amazing to hear that just by simply being present and choosing to not rush, your work felt ‘open-ended, had no hard edges or annoying streaks and was totally free of pressure and the need to perform or conform – it felt as though I had all the time in the world.’ What a difference!
It is fascinating how we can get caught into the motion of the doing, getting through what needs to be done to tick it off the list. The amount of strain and stress we put on ourselves is crazy – all to get somewhere as quick as possible. Choosing to be the opposite of this and making it about the quality in the way we are doing things has a massive impact on how we are going to feel, what we are doing and all those around us.
When I was a kid I could not understand how people put themselves under so much pressure.
It is curious how most of us can attest to your experience of rushing not saving you time rather the opposite but yet most of us -certainly I do – often choose the rushing it’s like we get something out of the rushing the nervousness the tension. Could it be it fills up the space so therefore we are avoiding space as in space we feel how we really are living and for most of us that might not feel that nice.
Great example of the difference of how we choose to be with our day it’s a discipline to choose quality over the auto pilot of rushing. It is well worth it as in choosing and allowing quality as described space opens up and that is just lovely to experience.
We have placed so much emphasis on just ‘getting it done’ regarding our work, without ever concerning ourselves with the quality in which the job was completed, especially the inner quality of the person doing the work, as Gabrielle described in such a revealing and wonderful way. There have been many times for myself at work that I used an incredible amount of drive (another quality that is rewarded at the detriment of the human body) to finish a task that was rapidly approaching a deadline, only to feel completely exhausted at the end of it, and had sometimes had to go back and rework something I had missed because of the rush I was in. I would also argue that the person receiving the end product or service that we provide while in a rush and drive can feel this quality in it and it comes across as a low quality anyways, even though it was done ‘on time’.
‘Child’s play in hindsight – literally so, because as children we live in that space, we spend all our time in it. Do you remember the endless- and spaciousness of each moment, lived and experienced from and in a little body that is present with and in itself?’ – How true, I remember as a child it was all about what was happening in each and every moment, we naturally knew how to be present in our bodies. Great thing is, as adults we can re-connect to this natural way of being.
‘Would I have finished five minutes earlier had I rushed?
Maybe – but maybe not because I then need to correct more mistakes.
But more importantly – would those potential extra five minutes have given me any joy?’ – Indeed Gabriele, what quality would you have completed the job with if you had rushed, i.e. what quality would be in the end product? Your revelation is super important.
The stories we allow ourselves to be run and dominated by really don’t make sense.
We’ve to do each moment of every day so we may as well enjoy it all, be present with it all for I notice when I don’t, there is a hardness my body can go into and I much prefer the spaciousness and sweetness presented in the moment, ready and always available to us, for us to fully embrace.
I indeed remember life as child’s play, there was no concern for time and yet every moment was lived with fullness and completeness, I also remember time just working out, it wasn’t an effort to be on time or manage time, everything was a living ness.
‘Or, in other words, when I don’t rush, I am not slow!’ This thought that we are slow or ineffective because of our lack of speed and haste is what is masking so much in our world. Not wanting to truly take the space to complete through fear of judgement or not being able to service a task quickly enough creates much anxiety and angst. In the industry I work in service really has been redefined to mean delivery and if its not quick you are bad at service – really? The notion then of us all taking the space to stay with ourselves through each task will also give another permission to feel their own sense of rush and haste. What they do from here is their choice.
Glorious article Gabriele. Not investing in time makes our whole day entirely different and brings so much space to the day which would otherwise be filled with stress, anxiety and pushing for deadlines!
Time is a huge marker to what we choose to fill our every moment with. Time isn’t the issue but what we fill it with.
I’ve noticed the less I clock watch I remain steady and stay with time. It is as soon as I push to met deadlines that I get lost and play the mad hatter game of always thinking I will be late or never having enough time in the day.
Wow, what a revelation – I have been competing with time!!
Rush is a state of separation.
Gabriele how hoodwinked are we by jobs that we consider to be ‘‘uninteresting and boring’ tasks’? By categorizing tasks into different groups we set ourselves up to react to them in different ways. The trick is to work on our consistency in not only everything that we do but with everyone that we come into contact with. One state of being fits all and that state of being is love.
Without the rush it all gets done, and often in the same amount of time, but without the stress and tension, which not only affects our bodies but is energetically absorbed into whatever we are doing, to be passed on to the recipient of whatever we have been doing.
“Or, in other words, when I don’t rush, I am not slow!” I just love this Gabriele, a totally different perspective altogether.
So much of life feels like it’s a race. A race against time agreed but also a race against others. I have felt for so much of my life like I am in some kind of horse race, edging past others, falling back for a while and then galloping forwards again and feeling once more like I was over taking. What a load of baloney! The fact is, we are one united whole, which means there can never be anyone either out in front or behind because the truth is there is only one of us.
I find that when I race the clock and put pressure on myself for no reason, that I can end up spinning my wheels and not actually getting anywhere. I can get into a momentum where I am not really concentrating and jumping from one task to another and having no presence and no connection or purpose with what it is I am actually doing. Being fully present and going through the task at hand and taking care feels lovely and is such a rewarding approach.
I found myself talking about the subject of your blog yesterday Gabriele, and I feel it will be a topic of conversation for a while, because my attitude to time literally affects everything I do. As you say in your final paragraph not rushing and being present with your body in everything you do is good medicine. ‘Good medicine for our physical and mental wellbeing as well as for our relationships and the enjoyment of the work we do, whatever it may be.’ Absolutely.
Thank you Gabriele. I spend much of my life in a race against time and your blog makes it absolutely clear that I am cheating myself first and foremost. I am also cheating others as I have seen that rushing makes it very difficult to connect.
Like you and many others I also got a lot out of reading Serge’s book on time, I find when I’m connected to myself I have ample time to complete tasks easily and that everything seems to constellate in an orderly fashion.
A great blog on how time is space. More and more I am coming to appreciate this fact. Racing against time sets us up for failure because we are racing against something that is not even true.
I often have people comment on the evenness and glide of my step and that I never rush. As you say, “when I don’t rush, I am not slow”. I agree, the difference is there is just no wasted energy as there is in the rush and bustle.
Yes I remember that gorgeous spaciousness as a child and love the feel of it now when I am fully connected and allowing of it and don’t get caught up in time ‘constraints’, feel the shrinkage in that very word!
I definitely have a tendency to rush, particularly at work when the phones are busy and I’m also trying to get through my work …. I don’t check on the actual time very much, however, you have inspired me to be more aware of my presence with what I am doing and to allow the space to work with each task until it’s complete.
“…when I don’t rush, I am not slow!”
That’s a consciousness buster of a line Gabriele. True stillness is a movement that has nothing to do with ‘slow’ but everything to do with ‘space’!
I love this line too Liane. We may receive ‘rewards’ for getting things in on ‘time’ but we are truly rewarded when we choose to create space.
This is so true, we’ve got it all around the wrong way…we make it about time and beating the clock when really it is about space and our relationship to it. I too am beginning to once again see that it is not time we are held by, it is space and this space is the body of God/the Universe that we belong to, whereas time is used to measure our movements within this space. Your example is so simple Gabriele and yet so powerful for it shows us that we are the creators of our own reality in each and every moment in the sense that with every movement we have the choice to either move in tune with God/the Universe or against this.
I can definitely relate to this Gabriele. There is the notion and the illusion that rushing through and not paying attention so much to the quality of the work but rather focussing on getting it done because of limited time, does in fact ‘beat time’ when it most definitely does not. As witnessed countless times in my life where I spend more time cleaning up the mistakes which would not have been made in the first place if I had taken the time to bring my full quality and presence to it.
It always feels terrible being around someone who is rushing -the atmosphere can be tense and unpleasant. I am learning to not panic about my workload but just to systematically work my way through it giving everything the attention it deserves and it is amazing just how much space is created to fit things in. I am now just allowing this to happen. Thank you for inspiring me to appreciate this, Gabriele.
Remembering back to my childhood, with the long holidays stretched out in front of me – a huge expanse of freedom. There were no pressures from family or society. Interesting as I get older how time seems to have shrunk and even the years now pass so quickly! Yet when I choose to stay present with myself (as I did when a child) space and time open up.
I’ve always hated deadlines on account of the anxiousness I feel in my body as the end-time comes nearer. To feel able to complete a task in my own time and rhythm feels more loving and then I can submit whatever may be required ahead of time – without ‘chasing my tail.’
Lately I am often getting up in the momentum of rush and busyness, trying to get a job done within a time restraint, so it can be a constant battle with myself to STOP, bring myself back and slow down, so thank-you for your inspiration Gabriele, and now I know that to get a job done I don’t have to do it quicker, I just have to remain present with myself and to allow my own rhythm to unfold.
Thank you great to remember this Gabriele – ‘Or, in other words, when I don’t rush, I am not slow!’
Time is running, ticking, slipping,…and it looks like I can choose ‘how to deal with it’. But what if time is an illusion, a creation from us that mislead us going into the idea of a linear development? Thereby I made similar experience like you Gabriele when I give myself into ‘space’, let go of the time-idea and do what is needed to be done in a quality of integrity, connected to my body and circumstances – it is much more healthy for me, but not less productive and the quality of what and how I am offers more lived harmony to the world.
Like the Title “A race against time” – a race without a winner actually.
I have found a lovely way to do a typing job is to type at my normal speed but very gently tap on the keypads, this keeps me more aware of what i am doing and less likely to go faster than is right for me. So for me it is definitely not about going slow but about being aware of myself in the action I am doing. When I do this time is not against me but I am just in the space I need to be to get the job done, no stress.
What I also find fascinating is how unusual it is to have this experience of something we set out to do… testimony to the fact we have gone so far from what you’re describing as part of our everyday reality that actually being present and bringing a quality to what we do is now worthy of a ground-breaking blog.
A very timely reminder Gabriele thank you, putting our bodies into a rush constantly is most definitely NOT good medicine. In fact we are yet to really discover the extent of the harm we do to ourselves in choosing this as an incessant way of being.
A quote from Leonardo da Vinci: ‘Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it.’ So time is assured but what will it take from our side to make use of time in the way it is designed to be used? It is time to cut to the chase otherwise, we will chase forever our own shadows.
It is so fascinating Gabriele, I have done a similar experiment when driving the car. I used to drive a fairly regular route on a country road. I used to rush and want to overtake at the safe places where the road widens to allow people to overtake, only to find the people I’d overtaken immediately behind me at the traffic lights a little further along. When I thought about it, it seemed a little crazy behaviour to be wanting to drive so erratically, so I drove in my rhythm and became the car behind at the traffic lights, with no stress or pressure, and the time was much the same. This is a great exposure about the illusion of time.
This was perfect timing Gabriel as I sit on a train feeling under a bit of time pressure to make a deadline. I have felt more space come in just from being reminded by you so thank you!
Time is filled with what we choose to fill it with. Fill it with yourself and it will become space.
Gabriele I get the real sense here of being fully present in the moment, not trying to complete something to move onto the next in fear of the to do list getting longer, but giving everything your full attention, presence and all. Then when its time to move onto the next thing it will be done but there will be just as much space to do it, if not more. A lesson to take into the day for sure.
This is so gorgeous, Gabriele. They way that you describe the effect of not having a ‘dead line’ is so illustrative of how that alleviates the pressure and tension.
A race against time is only the illusionary face of a race against ourselves.
So many of us allow ourselves to be ruled by time and yet as has been shared time is an illusion – we are stressing over something that isn’t really real! As I am sitting here I am feeling of all of this and am allowing myself to be in the moment. Suddenly I am much more conscious of my body and my shoulders as I am typing. I am more present in my body than I have been since I woke up and feel more still!
Getting trapped in time, requires to manoeuvre behind the scenes with our particles so we can direct all our awareness in one direction, shutting down everything else.
At the physical level, could it be that the main difference when we make time our main parameter compared to when we engage with energy in a way to make it more spacious, that we are asking our body to work (to coordinate internally) in a total different way?
It is the quality we engage the world of energy; that is the quality of our movements, what determines our spaciousness and this what determines our perception of time.
What becomes more and more clear is how reductionists we tend to be when we think of what are we really doing and what is really going on. Guided by our five senses we have a feeling of what we are doing and what is happening… leaving out of the picture the fact that we engage with the world of energy all the time through movements and that this silent, ignored, fact makes a tremendous difference which also leaves its mark on what we are doing.
What I have found at work is that if I am pressuring myself to get a task done quicker so I can do something else or that I should be elsewhere other than where I am right now, my actual movements are slower and stiff. Often leaving no space to complete everything that needs to be completed at work in a decent level of quality. But if I focus on where I am and what is before me my movements are less impacted and I feel freer and the quality of the end result is different. This is noticeable in the role of retail I work in as I can feel the difference handing over a coffee in haste, not caring to look or acknowledge the person receiving the drink and actually taking the time to hand over the drink, smile and engage with the person. When the focus is on the task the being doing and receiving often get forgotten.
Gabrielle, i love this blog, I can so relate to what you have written, I had this experience yesterday where I had wanted to get at a certain time, but there was lots of traffic, I felt myself go int anxiousness, rush what I was doing, panic and feel very tense and then realised very clearly that this would not speed things up, that I could also choose to stay present and not get anxious and that I would arrive home at the same time, just either feel stressed and tense or feeling lovely and myself, I can feel how there is always this choice.
The perception of time when we are rushing is of that kind that it seeks more rushing in the notion that it would be possible to be more effective. When we make a reality check we realize that rushing is not effective at all but that our psyche seeks identification in stress. To let go of the tension and allow space therefore can be quite challenging as it exposes the underlying emotional issues we can override by rushing.
Under the pressure of time complication is programmed, in space simplicity is a natural companion.
This is a stunning article by Gabriele Conrad, as she manages to put every element in to place so succinctly that the whole of time and space makes sense in an instant. Thank you Gabriele, this is going to stay with me all day.
Serge Benhayon has succinctly and extensively presented the fact that it is the quality of our movements, actions and thoughts that allow us to change ingrained patterns like making time spacious again.
‘There was a definite lack of something to rub against’… that captures the feeling precisely. There is an ocean of space to play in, all around us all of the time. But when we introduce time then suddenly it becomes ‘pressing’ and I can feel the world get smaller and tighter.
Multi-tasking is just a name for how to make more mistakes on different things, all at the same time. I saw a sign in a car garage once that said; a good job done fast but won’t be cheap, or a fast job done cheap that will not be any good, or a good job done cheap but will not be fast. It all comes down to choice and what you are willing to accept.
The transformation of time into space, simply by arresting our futile attempts to beat time – super cool article, thank you, Gabriele.
Over a period of time I noticed my thoughts, I am often wanting to get what ever I am doing done so as to get onto the next thing, I too have been practicing surrendering in each moment and fully embracing what ever it is I am doing and bringing the quality of energy to my every movement, it is a work in progress which I am committed to.
I so remember the feeling as a kid where there was endless space to do what ever you were doing, great reminder Gabriele, no need to rush, or fret , this takes us into time and we then run out of it.
‘Or, in other words, when I don’t rush, I am not slow!’
This is true, but how many of us burn ourselves rushing through everything we need to do (almost running at work) in the belief that speed equates to efficiency, without giving one iota to the quality (environment) we are holding ourselves in and bringing to everything we produce.
Is it not interesting to note how you said “(I am not a good typist!)”. If you stuck to this new way of doing this task being with yourself as best as possible every moment of the job (the way you described it was perfect) .. I’m sure it would not take that long that the relationship you had with the task and typing would change. What a difference it makes when there is space to learn ‘in your time’ as Gabriele states “ – it felt as though I had all the time in the world.” Complexity in time – Simplicity in space.
This is profound Gabriele — most of this blog is — a capturing innovative read literally. “When the job was finished it finished at a certain time as measured by the clock, a time that would have arrived no matter what I had been doing and how I had been doing it.” You either can do a task being controlled in anyway that is a drive from outside of yourself in an ideal about time or you can do it with the very fact you are with all of you in your body i.e. Did the job give you Joy while you were doing it, on completion, and added value to the next job you did? We have used our relationship to time to take away our purpose to life.
When we impose a time limit on ourselves to meet a deadline on the clock we push ourselves and focus on time at the expense of whatever it is we are doing, so we are, in effect, in two places at once. No wonder we get frazzled and make errors.
Staying in tune with my body brings a rhythm to what I am doing and also a quality to it, so besides the fact that I can get it done as efficiently if not more, I know that when I come back to that same activity or feel the result of what I did, it supports me to reconnect again. So the notion of linear time is replaced by a cycle that can be built on. This understanding also works in reverse, where something I do haphazardly is a little harder to redo the next time. Perhaps it is true that we leave an imprint that affects us in everything we do?
Staying present and not being focused on time has actual health benefits as it takes so much stress out of life.
Hi Gabriele,I do a physical job and I always have it in mind that the quicker i get the job done the higher my hourly rate is, but the difference at the end of the day is how much more knackered I am if my mind is on the clock instead of giving myself the space. So I may get home a half hour earlier but the energy I have used through not being with myself is quite extraordinary.
Thanks Gabrielle- great reminder to be in the moment with all that we do, and it is the quality we do things in that matters- from no demands, expectations, timeframes as children so naturally play in.
Gabriele you wrote: “Or, in other words, when I don’t rush, I am not slow!” That was also a big revelation for me as I was a person who was always rushing. I have to admit that there is still work in progress as to rush is such an ingrained behavior for me but it is worth it to allow myself to not rush as I am not so exhausted as I was.
Fact is that when we race against time we will never feel being fulfilled as time does not truly exist to measure our outcome against but instead we are living in a space and when we start to understand this, as we know it form our childhood, we are just with ourselves in everything that we do. And in my experience with that comes a joy because I am with me in full appreciation of myself and not in competition with time that only brings me frustration as I will never be able to win that game.
Brilliant Gabriele! This blog totally blows away the in-grained lie embedded in the human psyche that time is the ‘enemy’. ‘And in that space, time does not matter, it is not my enemy and I don’t have to compete with it’.
We have been educated from an early age by school and parents alike to use competition as a fuel in our lives, to drive our actions. This can make the ‘other’ with whom we compete the ‘enemy’. As they say on the sports field ‘go out like gladiators’ and ‘bring home the booty’. And so we also compete with time instead of surrendering to spaciousness and presence. Great ground-breaking blog.
I can really see how I adjust my movement according to the limitation I would imagine from what the clock says – how I would rush and wind myself up, and how I judge myself according to how I measure up against it. It’s really amazing how we have assimilated ourselves into this illusion and mastered to leave ourselves in its process.
What a great exposure of the illusion of rushing to complete a task. It does not actually get anything done more quickly, even studies have shown this, and yet so many of us continue to think that the way to do things is as fast as we can. What? Is it maybe because we get recognition from others when we are seen to be working hard regardless of what our actual output is?
KISS! Keep it simple Student! Oh my, what would life be like if I had learned this lesson early in life, for I am very much new to typing and often get into rushing to meet a perceived dead-line.
I love the practical-ness of this article Gabriele. It is like a scientific experiment that you are conducting, about what actually happens when I drop the ‘deadline’ tension and observe what is happening – yes my body feels a lot better, I still made typing mistakes, I still finished when I did, but without the dire affects of frazzle-ment. Just brilliant.
This is indeed very good medicine! Thank you Gabriele for your ‘timeless’ sharing. We did, as you say, play and inhabit the world in space rather than time, when little children. There was no concept of rushing, pushing, deadlines. And that enabled us to keep in connection with the ‘whole’ of life. It is paramount to keep aware that our connection to our Soul comes before anything else, and then we live our life . . . our life comes from the space of Heaven.
“As children we live in that space, we spend all our time in it” – so beautifully said, and so true. I can feel how we try putting past and future as well as the present in the space of now to give ourselves an illusion of saturation and overwhelm as if to challenge the forever expansive nature of space, and the ridiculousness of it.
Working from the rhythm of our bodies is amazing and it allows the movements we make in each moment be the reflection of quality and light needed for all too. Thank you Gabriele.
Another classic example which serves to remind us how we have forgotten how to just be in the present moment – we just need to take the time to stop and observe small children at play to get a true sense of this.
Hi Gabriele, this is a great experiment to do . . one I have undertaken when driving a car. I discovered just how much I am hurting myself when rushing in the tension of getting somewhere. I do not get there any faster and I arrived frazzled. When I am focused on driving and being very present I arrive at my destination at the same time the difference being that I am with myself when I do arrive. A point of difference well worth noting.
Rushing never gets us anywhere in a quality that is enjoyable to be in.
An inspiring sharing Gabriele ! It makes a lot of sense to put as much care and attention into whatever we do and not just the things we enjoy or feel are important. Its what we put in that we get out of it.
I often wonder how life would run if we removed all our clocks and time pieces. It would probably be a bit chaotic to begin with… I remember travelling across the desert a few years back, and what a memorable experience it was to be living for those weeks outside of the structure of time, but very much in the rhythm of nature and its cycles. Perhaps it is actually possible to live and function by our internal rather than external clocks.
“I had not put any effort into trying to get to that end point earlier or faster and in that I got to feel the true blessing of time – the revelation of time as space. And in that space, time does not matter, it is not my enemy and I don’t have to compete with it” – agree Gabriele, i know that the more i leave space in my days, arriving places/meetings earlier, waking up a bit earlier, leaving the house for work just 5mins earlier, the less i feel up against it, anxious or wired, and where time becomes a sought-after feature, specifically feeling time-short. And so time IS (about) space. Space creation.
It is so true Gabrielle, as children we live in that spaciousness and it is beautiful to remember how expansive and joyful it is to live like that.
Very interesting experiment you did with Time Gabriele…so, what it boils down to is not one of time, beating the clock or getting anything done quicker, but more the quality of how you felt in yourself first and afterwards that was the ‘experiment’s finding’ and thus your decided focus, as opposed the focused goal of finishing the typing…so being in Space or spaciousness in the body, instead of ‘The Clock’ or what we equate with as ‘Time’….
Is it not time we changed our relationship with time? If time is not truly moving but it is we that move, what quality of movements are we in, and where are they leading us?
So great to reflect on this Gabriele for myself and also to feel how as adults we impose on our kids to pull them out of this spaciousness that is so natural ~ ‘Child’s play in hindsight – literally so, because as children we live in that space, we spend all our time in it. Do you remember the endless- and spaciousness of each moment, lived and experienced from and in a little body that is present with and in itself’
When we are no longer ruled by time and work with space the particles in our body respond and there is a natural sense of rhythm and harmony of how our day can flow. There is something so ordinary, yet very extraordinary about working in space that allows for a settlement in the body.
All works so perfectly and timely in nature and there is a natural rhythm and order to it. I love how when I am in connection and in rhythm within my own body, I have all the time I need, there is an order and flow and it is spacious. At those times it feels like I am outside of time…
We have conceptualised time to be a provider or deliverer of the things we need to be identified, to be recognised, to achieve being seen a ‘good’ yet we seldom take stock of how we are feeling in our bodies or if the quality of our fulfilment is honoring of who we are in essence.
The space we are in is given, it is constantly ours to be with however we choose. Our awareness of how we are in this space is our responsibility, as however we live in this space is what we share with this world, whether we choose to be aware of this or not. Yet when we choose to be, rather project our minds, out of the space we are in, we are left with feeling the ‘lack of space’, which we call a ‘lack of time’ as we have left ourselves and instead invested in a timeline or end-time rather than surrender to the space we are in and be with our essence.
Last year I heard Serge Benhayon present on Time, Space and All of Us in Sydney and it really changed my relationship with time as I recognised that time is a measurement and it is how we are within time (ie, the space) that determines how we feel. When we take the emphasis out of getting something done and focus on the quality in which we do things then this allows us to be working with space rather than being ruled by the clock.
When I don’t rush I am in conscious presence and that is the difference and something we can all choose.
Gabriele it was a great comment that if you had rushed and had that extra five minutes would it have brought you any joy? I can make the deadline everything and feel that I am competing against time, yet it’s for no reason because it takes me ahead of myself and definitely out of any potential joy.
I love the point Gabriele that you make about ‘deadlines’. I know for myself, when I let go of the concept of a deadline, I feel spacious and often get things done more efficiently. When I work to a deadline or create one for myself, I feel restricted and I don’t enjoy the process of what I am doing nearly as much. It is great to expose the meaning of deadline and the affect that it has on us.
Thank you Gabriele, what you’ve shared truly is a form of medicine in my experience too and something to very much appreciate and put into practice!
Why not choose to enjoy in full every moment we live, and choose to be loving with every movement we make as this would be far more joy-full that the stress, pressure and anxiety than we put ourselves and our bodies through in our race against time.
I have always liked to be early, never liked the feeling of rushing or being late. I like to get to my dental appointment, work or whatever at least 5 minutes early so that I can sit for a moment. I like the feeling that I have space and giving my self that extra time means that if I need to do something, I can.
What I do have to be aware of though, is that I can ensure that all that needs to be done is done, but then….. a few extras that are not part of my plan pop in, and if I go into and need to get them done, or drive or push it can throw me completely, and this then has an effect on my whole day. It can only be one minor detail to my morning, one extra job that really is not essential but I make it out to be like my life depended on it and believe it or not, it has an impact throughout my day.
What a gift the book Time by Serge Benhayon is. I have realised how trapped and driven our world is by the concepts of time, and as you say the race against time, myself included. Yet who we are in essence is timeless, eternal in fact and whenever we are connected to our essence with whatever we do we bring a quality of presence that is Divine, full and rich with joy, not owned or defined by time in any way. As it is only us the uses time to diminish the quality of what we bring, as time itself only marks the quality of our presence lived in any moment.
Seeing time on a clock ticking by, and as a finite thing, creates so much anxiousness that is exhausting. What I can feel in what you share Gabriele is the ease and openness of space, an allowing of life to be fully lived in each moment… how gorgeous!
Awesome to read your blog Gabriele, it confirms what I recently realise too. No matter what we do if we do it in a race against time we get anxious, exhausted and stressed, but we can equally carry out the same task in the same amount of time or less but be more connected to ourselves, not rushing but bringing joy into every moment and movement of our task. This totally shifts, changes our stress levels, improves the quality of what we do and more amazingly, we can bring joy to every task we do throughout our day, simply by choice, choose to not let time control us but choose to connect first to ourselves and what we are doing.
Yes we get to 4 o’clock or what ever time it is no matter what we do, so we may as well enjoy the process rather than go into the hectic, frantic rush. And it is so true that when we go into the rush, we often take longer than normal because we are all over the place, rather than with ourselves, knowing what step to take next.
The concepts that you are busting through in this article are huge. I am often late and rushing to arrive on time for work or social occasions. I have felt and experienced the ‘good medicine’ you refer to, the space that is created when you cease to place the clock as your enemy, it always surprises me how little time you actually save through the rush but the quality you scarce in order to save it hardly seems worth it?
Rushing sets us up to fail because we are setting ourselves up to feel exhausted later in our day.
This is a great point… To be with what you are doing and not be fixated on the clock. It makes sense that time doesn’t matter… As if you rushed to complete something you probably would finish at the same time then if you just did it- the outcome is what would be so different though. The quality of the task as well. it’s an illusions we have to rush to get things done quicker.
I do remember as a little kid how spacious everything was- and how time didn’t matter. It was a beautiful thing to feel- rather then constantly racing against the clock
We have built our world around time and in so doing ignored space as being relevant to how we live as well. . I have just done a Sacred Movement session and I can feel how connecting to the sacredness of being a woman has allowed more spaciousness in my body. There is a delicateness that I can feel and there is nothing in me that wants to rush or feel I need to do anything.
love what you have shared here Gabriele. There is a big difference in the experience of a job or activity when we allow ourselves to do things at a pace that is lovely and supportive rather than rushing things. For example, I love doing laundry, especially when there is no time frame set on getting it done. I love hanging up the wet clothes, placing them in exact positions on the line and pairing up the socks etc. But if I am rushed and have to do it quickly I find it annoying and a nuisance. This is similar to what you have shared with just taking the time to do things in a way that allows the full space for it – and as we discover, it does not need to take that much longer or can actually take the same amount of time to do because when we rush we make mistakes, and not only that but when we rush we also walk away feeling incomplete! It is worth feeling complete after every thing that we do…
Not only does rushing not make us finish things faster and increase our mistakes, it also leaves us exhausted very quickly.
I can relate this to when there is something that needs to be done I always have the option to either rush and try to get it done quickly or with presence that feels like there is all the time in the world and the quality of the outcome feels very different. Often when I choose to rush I make mistakes or the quality is not the same as when I am being all of me with the task at hand. The other thing I’ve noticed is that I’m less likely to feel tired and stressed when I’m present with what I’m doing.
At any moment we have a choice of how we move and with what we choose to move. Rushing is a choice as so beautifully explained in this blog.
Beautiful Gabriele. I have been amazed at how time opens up and in space that is all there is – space. Whereas time is very definitive and restricting.
Present day world has made rushing, being busy and meeting deadlines the norm, this has been falsely accepted as a sign of being successful. So we are looking to be more busy, to be rushing every day and to build a life that meets deadlines, to fit into the world. What we have chosen is to give up the truth of what the body knows–that rushing is an absolute abuse the body feels, over to being accepted and recognized by the world. We have compromised our own rhythm within, to live a most unnatural rhythm the world has imposed onto us. We therefore create our own illness and disease, and we all have a part to play in escalating the rate of illness and diseases in the world.
Rushing just feels absolutely uncomfortable in the body. This discomfort gives me the opportunity to look at why I have allowed a compression in my life—could I start my task earlier? Have I delayed along the way? Have I been distracted? Where and when? Because of the tension felt, it just feels wise to go through whatever is necessarily to deal with this tension, immediately. It is even more wise if this can be prevented by not needing to choose it and then deal with it after.
The real work in life is not only doing what we excel in doing, but everything that we resist in doing if we also do them with the equal and absolute deep presence as with things we love doing, builds and expands on everything we love doing to another level. We have to absolutely appreciate the opportunity life offers us in dealing with everything we feel resistant to.
I always feel deadlines are attempts to knock us off from our very precious and gorgeous presence and rhythm with ourselves and with life. When we focus on deadlines and rushing, we are no longer with ourselves and in presence with the deep play of life, without play, life becomes hard and a chore. Rushing is a choice that needs to be stopped consciously, to re-introduce a new movement of just being in the spaciousness of life and moving together in rhythm with time.
Our relationship with time is so fraught – rarely does anyone feel they have enough of it and always want more. To start developing a relationship with space, is a whole new (well maybe not so new) ball game and your blog is a great intro into that. As to how we can just be with the task at hand, and not get caught up in time/ deadlines etc…
Such delightful wisdom and simple – re-turn to the spaciousness we new as children and repeat often.
Thanks so much Gabriele, my body feels lighter from reading and appreciating what you’re sharing.
Hello Gabriele and another great book by Serge Benhayon as you say. When you say “After all, 4pm is 4pm, regardless of how I spend the time until that time” So time is time and it’s how we are with it that either creates the ‘space’ or creates the ‘friction’. This is a great way to look at moments and time and brings us to the quality we are and not the drive to the deadline.
Thank you Gabriele and I fully appreciate your experience. It is quite a profound feeling when we take the pressure off ourselves and simply get stuck into the task, no expectation, no dead line to stagger across, just a light, focussed attention on the job in hand and a quiet enjoyment of the process. And its true if we don’t rush we can never be slow because we have abandoned the clock and chosen spaciousness instead. When we make this choice, there is nothing to measure our progress by except the exquisite feeling of stillness and appreciation in our bodies for a task is being accomplished with love.
I notice that I often get a lot more done in the same time frame when I stay very present and in the moment throughout each task. It is a phenomena that fascinates me and feels so divine when I slip back into space and stop “fighting time”.
“Or, in other words, when I don’t rush, I am not slow!” I like this and can say that is what I have experienced too. It is simply one step at a time and as you say what “needs to get done gets done”.
Time and space seem to be two different dimensions, the whole sensation in and around the body is very different, but I wonder whether this is because we have lost our true relationship with time by letting go of the quality of space that is actually very familiar to us from our childhood experience. So once we had the knowing and balance, later we lost it when we started to change the way we engaged with the world on terms given to us from outside. May it be that our relationship with time and space is directly related to our relationship with ourselves?
The switch from time to space is a choice that I now consciously have – after reading Serge Benhayon’s book “time”. The race against time is over.
Yes Gabriele, our whole world is running on the belief that speeding up and racing is the way to be. We even celebrate people who drive around in circles on a racing track. Yet all of this looks at life, as if it is measured by the amount of things we get done. As if when you die, there would be a review meeting and your big boss (God?) would say ‘Great – you completed task a, b and c – that seems awesome to me!’. But what if that is not true? What if we are defined by the quality we choose? Then what we aspire for our track record to be should be one of deeper quality, and days where you chose to be more and more loving. The end of time as we know it, is the end of pushing through and the start of us nourishing me and you.
Very enjoyable to read your experience with time as a space of quality and presence rather than an imaginary contest with time. Childhood was spaciousness and time pressure didn´t occur until we learnt to buy into it and learnt it to be the normal way of the world. Whatever we choose our relationship with time to be, time´s relationship with us never changes. So it is up to us to develop our relationship skills and a healthy, harmonious and supportive connection with time once again.
It is the quality how we do something, what counts, not how quickly we can do it, which often causes stress, because the movement in itself to do the job as quickly as possible is under tension.
It is an interesting observation that although we make a point of teaching and encouraging people to be ‘serious’ and push themselves to be ‘faster and better’, when you chose to not function under those drives, the speed and accuracy was not that much different, but your experience certainly was. I know that how people feel does affect the quality of their work, so in the long run this would show a higher quality too. It is remarkable how false our perceptions can be when we think pushing ourself and feeling anxious and inadequate is a good thing.
ah I love this feeling and it is something I know I need to work on more – that there is a space in which you can do things, where the doing of them is not the most important part, but the quality of how they are done
‘Or, in other words, when I don’t rush, I am not slow!’ – Haha Gabriele, I love this simple revelation – it highlights the games we play and the utter illusion about time.
Totally agree Gabriele, the end job feels better and I am left feeling greater, rather than squashed by the pressure I’d have placed on myself if I were to have rushed.
‘I had not set myself a deadline (strange word that, a ‘dead line’) and thus there was nothing to measure myself against. ‘ When we measure, we disappoint ourselves or are relieved we’ve made it. There is no true joy or appreciation in that and we give our power away to the deadline, to time, something outside of ourselves.
Gosh Gabriella, the pressure of time I can relate to that so I am pretty sure I will re visit this blog. Fighting time is useless and yet I try to do this on a daily basis. I have been called slow several times in my life and felt judged and rejected, so thank you for the words ….’when I don’t rush, I am not slow’.
Time is a very interesting subject and I love what Serge Benhayon presents in his book Time, basically saying that time does not exist…. especially because time is such a real experience for me. It really did my head in at first but I am starting to grasp what he is talking about whilst I am reclaiming this space in me where I can simply surrender to timelessness – like we all could as children. The is still very much a work in progress, but absolutely worth the commitment.
Thank you Gabriele, exactly! We as children are not rushed whatever until we are met with the concepts of rush and needing to be there a certain time. It is by virtue of our choice and these concepts that we are learned to pay more attention to fitting in these matters then allowing our rhythm to do things on time. This is a huge subject that would be very benefitial to explore further – as by this an illusion , that time is, is stopped and no longer given power – then our true rhythms come back alive and exists.
Time can be such the bane of many peoples lives, with everything balanced and geared around it. Our whole lives can be governed by it. A silent illusion is what we grapple with every day of our busy lives.
Well worth getting back to and repeating frequently, like the good medicine it is; good medicine for our physical and mental wellbeing as well as for our relationships and the enjoyment of the work we do, whatever it may be.” I can taste the goodness of this good medicine.
I love this subject Gabrielle, and for me it is not about going fast or slow but just making sure I take the time I need to really complete something with 100% of my clarity. Sportspeople often talk about enjoying the process more than the end goal and perhaps it is similar in all life, it is not about getting somewhere or achieving something but how we are in the process, that is where the magic lies and it isn’t something we need lose once we pass childhood.
“When I don’t rush I am not slow”. I love this. Things take as long as they take. As you say, 4 pm is still 4 pm, regardless of what we have accomplished in the time up until then and 4 pm will come around tomorrow and tomorrow. Time is a man-made artifice. We then can become its slaves if we are not careful.
I love this Gabriele, having always been a ‘speed merchant’. Taking time to complete something with presence makes such a difference. I have noticed that with driving. Not rushing, I still get there when I get there and often not any later than if I speed.
‘ When I don’t rush, I am not slow ! ‘ this is so true Gabrielle. Staying present in the moment with my body more seems to get done, effortlessly with a real flow to it, and there’s no go slow. I can feel how time is so limiting when I get caught up in it. Great blog thank you.
Oh yes, I remember this time as a child when the world was spacious and there was no time pressure or need to rush. It is a shame that we ever loose this space in us and then have to work hard to regain it again.
I feel yep time in the temporal world is very much something we need to adhere to e.g going to a meeting or appointment but it can also be something we put pressure on ourselves about. I recently realised it was me that gave myself all the deadline times at work .. no one else! I also feel it comes down to self-love and self-care, if I give myself enough time in the morning my day flows if I rush I then become late .. the self-love and self-care aspect that come in here are getting up early enough to do all I need to so I am not late. As a wise and beautifull young women, Simone Benhayon, once shared .. if we are late we cannot blame the traffic it is how we lived in the morning up to that point, the momentum we have lived that we bring with us throughout our day.
Gosh I recognize this. I am almost always racing against time. But it’s true, where do we think we will get to apart from arriving at the same time as everyone else, no matter how we have been living.
I remember my son once saying at a very young age, “I hate time,”, I now know what he meant by this, I know he meant he felt uneasy and stressed by the rushing and pressure of life and how awful that felt to him.
I love how you explained that by rushing one would actually be wasting time…. That is a golden insight, so hard and so futile to hurry then isn’t it, yet this is exactly what people do when they don’t understand how to be with time. Great blog Gabriele.
I like how you write Gabriele – very detailed and explanatory keeping the reader in the story. Making it personal but not so personal as the story has a deeper bigger meaning. Our relationship with time and space can be understood by your simple investigation. How many of us are racing around more and more ‘thinking’ we are achieving lots but there is no joy in what we do, and we just carry on .. creating more and more exhaustion in ourselves and imposing this on each other?
Super cool blog Gabriele! All about quality and allowing the space. Thank you for the experiment. I can see this maybe be used as an excuse to go slow and not to worry. I would add to this the absolute commitment to completing the task in what I know to be true. I know this was not a part of the simple expose of time, and space, but I can see how this can be misinterpreted exactly like we reinterpret ‘deadlines’ and agenda items, when all is needed is to be with yourself and to honour just what is there and not repeat the same mistakes and thus the same day.
It is so true what you have shared here about children. when we are young we don’t carry the concept of time, we just know what we feel.
My sister once gave me a card and on the front was a picture of a rabbit and a tortoise wth the caption that read “the hurrieder I go the slower I get”. And my mother used to say “more haste, less speed”. There’s truth in this and I’ve experienced it often in that the more I push to get a task done the longer it can take me to complete and I feel frazzled whereas when I stay connected to myself there’s a simplicity that emerges.
When I don’t make time the enemy, I find that everything still does get done, but I am more at peace and not agitated. This is a gem of a quote that I may well put on my fridge door – ‘when I don’t rush, I am not slow!’ Thanks Gabriele.
I have put myself on an ‘eat slower’ program since I tend to bolt down my food. It’s been very interesting to work on breaking this habit and I have noticed so many changes as a result. I put my knife and fork down between mouthfuls, I actually enjoy what I’m eating more, I engage more with the people I am with, and sometimes I feel full before I’ve finished everything on my plate. Amazing how slowing things down has had such a big impact.
Gabriele this is great for me to read this morning and read over and over as a reminder. I am someone who is prone to rushing. I loved this question – ‘would those potential extra five minutes have given me any joy?’ When I ask myself the question, I know the answer is ‘no’ as I usually end up feeling tense and frazzled when rushing. This is a great question to keep asking when I find myself operating in this mode.
This is great Gabriele,
I have often found myself racing against the clock to get things done so I can get onto the next task.
But I have also experienced what it is like to not have the personally set deadline and just how freeing that is, and how much better I felt when completing the task without the pressure to get it done.
Once upon a time, I would rush from one thing to the next and would feel exhausted by the end of the day – I’d rush for the train, rush to get my work done, rush to get ready in the morning so my body was in a constant state of ‘go’. Not only was it exhausting, it meant I needed stimulants or ‘false fuel’ to keep me going so I would choose sugary or starchy foods to give me a boost of energy, crash and need another boost. It’s a cycle that continued until I stopped the rushing around and started listening more to what my body was telling me.
Whenever I watch the clock to get something completed by a certain time – bang, in comes anxiety, my chest feels tight, my breath changes and I go into my head and if I continue in this even for a short while, I feel exhausted. Racing against time does not work.
Many good points made in this blog. I find that time is a trap and is used as a goal in many ways.
Many industries pride themselves in the efficiencies and effectiveness they can complete a job. Usually putting high strain and stress on themselves, staff and ultimately the consumer.
Who wins in the end and is the 5min better productivity actually worth the exhausting process?
Wow this was the best thing I could have read this morning, I had just given myself a to-do list and a time frame in which to do it all by, but in doing so stressed myself out. Your blog Gabriele has reminded me of the importance of not rushing, staying present and en-joying what I do instead of rushing & missing true quality time with myself.
Yes, I love that example of how 4pm arrives at 4pm no matter how fast you move or not!
Reading the book Time, Space and all of us, Book 1, Time by Serge Benhayon was hugely liberating and transformed my life. Most people are slaves to all the lies and misunderstandings that abound around this word “time”.
Ah Gabriele when you mentioned the timelessness that we experienced as kids I was instantly transported back to seemingly endless summer evenings playing outside.
There is an old saying, ‘More haste, less speed’. There is wisdom about time contained in these words…something we intrinsically know but don’t very often apply. But you have taken it to another level Gabriele with your sharing of space and how everything opens up when we take our time.
Gabriele your title ‘a race against time’ really highlighted the absurd race that most of the so called ‘developed’ world is involved in. We rush around in a semi stooped stance, frantically going from one task, social gathering or chore to the next, unable to really settle in anything that we do. We flog our poor bodies like pit ponies.
I love what you have shared Gabriele. I know that feeling of being ‘frazzled and on edge’ by putting myself under pressure to get to the end of a job by rushing the process “I had not put any effort into trying to get to that end point earlier or faster and in that I got to feel the true blessing of time – the revelation of time as space.”
Gabriele your blog is a great reflection for me as i can get caught up in time, getting things done and the rushing myself. Like you say whether we rush or we just stay present with the what we are doing, we are still going to finish at the time we are going to finish, but when we stay with ourself, our body is in joy and not in tension.
Thank you for sharing this Gabriele,
I have recently felt the difference in my body from feeling flowing, present and simply in the space I am in to then feeling tense pushed and pressured by time.
The difference in my body was huge and left me pondering on the undue stress most of humanity places on our bodies every day.
Brilliant blog Gabriele. It is such an illusion that when we do something fast and therefore rush ourselves we will get more done in the day. It starts with what is our purpose in life, to get things done or the quality we bring to every moment? In the first instance rushing might seem doing its job, yet in the second, which I prefer and feels true to me, it doesn’t serves as whilst and after rushing the state we are in in our bodies is totally different (less good most of the time!) and the quality of our work is less. So which one do we prefer?
As you share this Gabriele, it is obvious that the conditions, ideals and models of how we think life should be and how we think we are to be in life are the very things that set us up with behaviours and tensions about time. As you say, in child’s play we did not aim to be the fastest or the bestest, these are simply ideals we have taken on and they are holding us back enormously so.
I love how you relate to how young children play, enjoying the spaciousness that is available when we are engrossed in what we are doing. It is sad that we lose that great ability, I guess it starts with our parents who want to rush us to finish things quickly. Once we are at school then we all seem to have to conform to this constant race against the clock. I am beginning to feel the enormous difference when I set aside any consideration of the time, and focus on the job I am doing with no expectation of when it will be finished. Rushing is so upsetting, it never saves ‘time’, as you suggested, when we rush, then we have to fix all the mistakes we have made during the rush, that takes more ‘time’.
Thank you for sharing an inspiring observation 🙂 I like what you say here “After all, 4pm is 4pm, regardless of how I spend the time until that time,” as it shows that it is not the time that is important but how we are in the space in-between one point and another. We are our own determinants of this part and as you show the way we are left feeling in our body can be quite different.
‘when i don’t rush I’m not slow’ – love this Gabriele – it really shows how being fully there and aware when we do something means we essentially do it once and do it with quality. A massive difference and the way we feel about doing this is completely different when we are not rushing.
To take our time is to honour what is needed – not push ourselves as a ‘race against time’ – I understand that there is a huge difference between space and time, and to allow ourselves the space is to complete what is needed – not based on time or rushing, but based on quality.
It’s so true Gabriele that rushing really doesn’t make us more efficient – when we’re in that frazzled and overwhelmed state the quality of our work naturally goes down, and often we actually don’t make up any/much time by rushing in the first place due to clumsiness! I’ve experienced exactly what you’ve shared about how the same period of time can feel incredibly short or much longer depending on how we are within that period, and although 4pm is always 4pm we can choose to live previous to 4pm in a whole lot of stress and tension or with lots of space.
Gabriele I love that fact that “when I don’t rush, I am not slow”, it goes against the way we normally approach our work, our life, that to fit more in with rush. Yet what effect does rushing have, I do remember that endless time and space as a child, in effect that is the part of life that I seem to often have left behind yet it is the part of my childhood I love the most. There are always many things to do, but if I don’t clock watch – dead-line driven for every moment then perhaps the quality I do it in will be very different.
A beautiful understanding on time and presence and much for one to reflect on.The lightness and joy can be felt by your sharing of letting go the rushing and pressure and simply enjoying taking your time by being with you and the quality of this can really be felt and appreciated.This is a very different and beautiful way to live honouring ourselves and it feels that time opens up and gives us the space and grace to get everything done and is very magical. Thank you Gabriele.
What a great blog Gabriele. I love how you express the joy and freedom that is available when we stop being in a rush, relentlessly measuring ourselves by time and taking twice as long having to correct the mistakes this has caused anyway!
When we have a big task in front of us it is easy to go into overwhelm, but when we simply sit down and begin and take care of the quality in which we do every small thing, then space does indeed open up and everything gets done without us feeling frazzled at the end of it.
When we rush it is as if we are trying to beat time, but as you say Gabrielle 4pm is 4 pm it will arrive at 4pm, not before and not after, so then it becomes about the quality of what we do in that time, will it feel spacious or will we work under the pressures and constraints of time. I have spent most of my life trying to beat or be ahead of time but now I know how racy it makes me feel, and how it can set myself up for the rest of the day, and how exhausting this is. Learning about spaciousness and what this feels like in the body has helped me to understand I can’t beat time and if I try, it comes at the expense of causing conflict in my body
The wisdom of children appreciating the space we all have to truly live life until, for the majority, they are forced to conform to society’s expectations and then spend a lifetime chasing their tail in ever decreasing circles and wondering why they are constantly exhausted?!
This is such an awesome reminder ‘when I don’t rush, I am not slow!’ Allowing myself the space to undertake a task without the constant judgement of the speed with which I am doing it is something I am still working on. My parents used to call me a ‘slow-coach’ because I was slow to get dried when I got out of the bath and I somehow translated this to being about everything I did and would constantly berate myself that I was e.g. typing slowly (although I am in fact an accurate touch typist) but as soon as I start to rush I make mistakes and end up slowing myself down. Racing against time is exhausting and the quality of what we produce is inferior so everyone suffers whereas if we stay present we experience the expansiveness of space supporting us to accomplish what is required without draining ourselves.
Even sitting behind the computer and reading this blog made me aware of the fact that I wasn’t enjoying working, but actually reading to get ‘the job done’. It takes away all the joy, the sillyness, the playfulness and in fact the Love I naturally am. I love to feel the joy while typing. Even working from this place is a totally different way of working – as I observe that I’m actually observing what I’m doing. In which I’m realising that I am (!!) not what I am doing (!!). There’s still connection, even a deeper one, but one that’s far more still. There’s a strength and a knowing in it. Which in turn makes me feel joyful.
This is so amazing Gabriele, it is so simpel. I still notice how attached I am to the doing. It has to do with truly claiming how precious I am and put myself first and give me space to be with me. Thank you for inspiring and sharing in such a practical way.
It is funny how if we rush we think we get things down faster, I can feel there is not a flow when I rush, life is more disjointed and I drop and knock more things. There is a natural rhythm in life, in the universe and it is something we can align with and it comes though being consciously present.
Agreed, Samantha – there is a definite difference in in rushing. It’s a disturbance for the natural flow and for others to see and feel as well.
I have been setting up a new business with my husband and although I have made a project plan, and there are some dates to work with, to support functional aspects like a builder’s renovation date and photo shot etc, there is space in it, we do not feel drawn to deadlines all over the place, we are feeling more what is required next rather than pushing it along. This is a new way of completing projects and one I am enjoying learning.
Thank you Gabriele. This is something my attention is being drawn to a lot these days too. Yesterday I had a lot to do but I allowed myself to get on edge about it and let nervous energy begin to run the show. In the evening I went to a party leaving my house later than I planned. As I left the nervous energy expressed itself in my thoughts and I suddenly found myself going back into the house to get more food for my contribution to the party, making a card with the ingredients as had been requested. I knew all along this was not needed but the apprehension around there not being enough kept me going so I began to drive in haste. Fortunately I caught myself and slowed down or there could have been food contributions all over the inside of my car, however this really highlighted to me how rushing just does not work, thinking that I have to do more and what I am doing is not enough. Needless to say the extra food was not needed it was put in the fridge and I brought it home at the end of the evening. Looking back I can see my day as a piece of music where some places were open and spacious and felt harmonious while others were squeezed tight and felt jarring and out of sync. and not in accord with the rest of the symphony so to speak.
Some days, I can flow with what I feel is needed rather than push to keep up, get things finished or watch the clock and things I need to get done, I am relating to time in a different way. I used to really react to it as concept, and this got me feeling like i was a reluctant prisoner to it. This is changing.
We are in school summer holiday time in the UK and I remember how these weeks would be timeless and yet, on the way to adulthood this changed and I began to react to time and what I perceived to be time constraints. I have children in my life now and it is amazing to appreciate their relationship with time and space. It is truly spacious and not restricted by pictures of what needs to happen or when, it is felt into rather than thought.
Love it Gabrielle. Playful and wise. I loved particularly what you shared about would there be any joy in the extra 5 minutes if you had of been rushing and finished the ‘job’ a little earlier. Your blog really begs us to ask the question of why we rush at all.
Gabriele, I love that you paused to feel and observe yourself in the way that led you to find another way. It’s interesting how your experiment brought new awareness and proved that there are few gains in rushing our work, that we can experience space and enjoy what we do more when we simply carry out the work without pressuring ourselves in anyway.
Thank you for writing about your observations whilst typing and how by buying into the need to rush only causes tension and disharmony in the body. I can relate to feeling under pressure and then getting myself ready to bash out my paperwork on the computer and at the same time feeling how my body then responds. The point is we may save five or ten minutes or not, but is it worth the feeling we are left with at the end of the day – definitely not.
Gabriele, something I find fascinating is that when I choose not to rush at work and actually give what ever I am doing my full attention without putting a time limit on it usually I do it much quicker than if I tried to rush it. I make less mistakes, my body does not get agitated or racy and my thoughts tend to be much clearer – so I get things done quicker and with a deeper level of quality.
Wow Gabriele your blog is such a good refection for me – thank you so much for not holding back about your experiences and observations with time and space – your simplicity helped me to get a deeper understanding of the distinction of them.
I have also come to experience the magic of the vastness of space that is contained in time. As you have said, Gabriele children only exist in space and have to dip into time from things outside them for meals and bedtime. We all have all the same amount of time, but we can choose how we live and fill the space of every moment.
This is gorgeous, Gabriele – such an exposé of the illusion that rushing alleviates pressure. Your description of how it was without rushing is so eloquent, “There was a definite lack of something to rub against, get hassled by, or even be the slightest uptight about, nothing provided friction or an issue of any definition or description.”
Beautiful Gabriele. I have had this experience on many occasions with different tasks. The output is still produced, however, what changes is how I feel while I am working and the output actually feels better even if the end product looks the same.
I have always Raced Against Time, love the title of this blog! My dad nicknamed me the road runner, as I literally ran from one thing to the next to be done…..And guess what I never had enough time in the day, plus all that running around left me exhausted. But I do feel that most of the world live int his constant race against time, making it about quantity (getting the job done, no matter what) rather than about quality….and is a battle that is never going to be won. When I started to slow down several years ago, I observed how much time I actually had and just as important, I got to feel how best to use my time, and also when to say no and when to stop especially when I was tired.
I love the feeling of freedom and joy in your words, Gabriele. To not be pressured by time opens up a whole new world, and like you I remember the feeling of living in the moment as a child, that anything was possible in the space within which I resided and played.
‘ I had not put any effort into trying to get to that end point earlier or faster and in that I got to feel the true blessing of time – the revelation of time as space. And in that space, time does not matter, it is not my enemy and I don’t have to compete with it. And to top it all off – everything that needs to get done gets done’. Love the truth so clearly delivered in the above.
A pure revelation Gabriele “when I don’t rush, I am not slow!”. Which makes me wonder what are we doing when we rush? Caught up in the list of things to complete rather than in the activity of the moment.
Could rush stand for Really Unnecessary Supermovement, Help!? Probably so!
How about RUSH = really unnecessary speed high.
I am often on the road and made the experience that I meet the car that did overtake me a few minutes ago on the next traffic light again. Only that I am relaxed and the other driver seems stressed. ..What remembers me on a friend who works in a kindergarten who shared how stressed the parents often collect their children, not able to connect to them at all. The focus is to get into the car and drive home or shopping or what ever. And the kids become frustrated because they had a vibrant day and would like to share with their lovely ones. They need to be met. But they don’t and so become whiny or upset and the relationship between parent and child becomes stressed. Because of that they become late for the next appointment… and so it goes on and on and on. Till we brake this cycle of ‘time’ and truly meet people, give people a space in our life. Ourselves first and so all.
What a super fantastic blog on time, I can so relate to setting deadlines and then going into a rush mode to get things finished….. and while in the middle of one thing, my mind is on the next thing to get done. This way of working only creates stress in my body and no doubt affects the quality of the output. When I do not rush the job still gets done and much more as I stay connected with myself and my inner knowing of what needs doing that day.
Thank you Gabriele. A great reminder of the choice we have in how we use or abuse our body in activity whilst relating to time. Do we allow time to rule or allow ourselves the space to have the experience within the time and not rob ourselves of the joy we can feel when we choose to be present. As you say ‘child’s play’.
We can do a lot. But in which quality we do it and so, what quality does come out at the end? I see that in my workplace where we are used to doing things quickly and sometimes hectic – this is the main way it is done. But the quality in how it was done does lay the ground for the next action and so on. So I am not surprised that we are all more or less exhausted and stressed. As I am given a medical certificate to stay away from work for two weeks (my body says: stop! different quality please!) I really have to ponder on which kind of quality I live at work and everywhere. So our bodies reflect to us that working in ‘time’ does not work at the end.
To make the jobs we have to do in space and let go of the ‘time-idea’ requires trust – to let go of control and give myself and my actions into God’s hands again.
Yes this is so true Sandra. It is truly that simple yet we complicate it to delay our magnificence.
What blows me away is to ponder the fact that time is just a man made concept that doesn’t actually exist.
“What I also noticed was that my output seemed to be the same, whether I would have been rushing like in the past or staying present with me and attending to every step and nuance as I was doing now.” A very interesting observation. If the output is the same whether we rush or whether we stay present then the only choice becomes the one about which quality we are choosing. I am sure the befits of choosing the latter not only support us to appreciate ourselves and then to deepen our self nurture, supporting the appreciation in turn, but that everyone else gets to feel the quality of the project/output/piece of work and then get to be inspired by the quality felt there too.
It is like ‘in space’ all of me is there and ‘in time’ just a part of me. So, ‘in time’ always left me with something missing – no matter if I’ve done the job faster, good or however.