Last Updated on July 29, 2024
On “time management”
What is time?
Is it even the sort of thing that you can “manage?”
We say things like “I don’t have enough time” or “I’ve wasted my time.”
This sounds like time is a thing, a physical object you can have in a quantity, and that you can use wisely or unwisely.
But that’s not what time is, that’s just a metaphor.
In fact, time isn’t a thing at all.
Time is the unfolding of all things.
Time allows for things to exist
Without time, no things would exist.
The entire Universe wouldn’t exist.
So thank goodness for time!
Time is what makes it possible for things to come into being, evolve and change, and then ultimately dissolve back into non-being.
So in this conception, time isn’t a thing you manage, have enough of, have too much of, need to get more of, and so on.
It’s just things coming into being and dissolving back into nothingness.
Over and over forever.
Nothing to manage
You do not manage the unfolding of all things, things just unfold.
That’s just something they do.
You don’t need to manage your cells dividing either, thank goodness.
Nor do you need to manage your heart beating while you sleep at night.
You don’t need to manage the sun rising and falling.
Or the changing of the seasons.
So the good news is you don’t need to manage time.
Time will take care of itself!
Aligning with the unfolding of all things
This way of viewing time implies something wonderful:
No one has ever wasted their time.
Nobody has ever managed their time poorly, well, or anything in between.
Because nobody has ever had any time to manage.
That said, if you want things to unfold faster than they are unfolding, well that’s going to be a problem — but only for you.
Similarly if you want something to stick around longer than it does, well that’s also going to be a problem — but again, only for you.
It’s like wanting a cloud to pass through the sky a little faster.
Sure, you can want that, but managing that cloud is not your job.
The right timing
Your job is not to manage time.
It’s to manage your decisions and your expectations.
And ideally to bring those in alignment with the unfolding of all things.
It’s like trusting in the right timing of things.
You’ll know if you’re doing it because you’ll feel like you’re in the flow.
You’ll experience a combination of peace and aliveness.
It’s like being totally OK with how things are now, and also excited about what’s to come.
You don’t have to do this perfectly, it’s just something to aim at.
Like surfing a cresting wave in the ocean, we can learn to align ourselves with time.
Time, the great mother
In Hindu mythology, time is sometimes represented as the Great Mother Kali.
Kali is often depicted as a ferocious destroyer of worlds, with a necklace made of men’s skulls.
That’s just a depiction of our fears about time, our attempts to control time.
Kali is also the great mother, that which gives birth to all things.
Because without time, nothing would ever happen.
So maybe we can start our “time management” journey not by trying to control the unfolding of the entire Universe.
But instead by appreciating that time is what makes all things possible.
Living from gratitude and trust certainly is more enjoyable than fear and control!
As the old bumper sticker said, “Relax, nothing is under control.”
Take care,
~Duff
(they/them)
