Help! I Don’t Have Enough Time
by LaRue Eppler
first published on Sep 3, 2007
What if you could return back to the beauty of life, free of stress and worry about time or money? How would that feel? One day in the mid 90’s I had an epiphany about money. I used to think that money was the cause of the stress and worries.
The epiphany was that MONEY wasn’t the real issue! It was TIME. More accurately, it was my belief in the concept of time. I believed if I had enough time, I could make more money and life would be easier. Consider this: If bills didn’t roll in like clockwork every 30 days, money wouldn’t be such a big deal, right? Or, if you knew you could take forever to pay your bills, the pressure would be off, wouldn’t it?
I remember back to the time in my life when some of my beliefs about time and subsequent behavior patterns became firmly ingrained within me. I was a sales director, and I had the responsibility of hitting a sales quota each month. The end of the month was enormously stressful for me, especially, when I was thousands of dollars under quota, and I had only 48 hours to make my sales target. The less time I had to make quota, the more stress I felt, and the more I worried about the money I would or wouldn’t make that month!
So, how did I change my belief about money? I started by reexamining my beliefs about ‘time’. After all, if we weren’t on a monthly financial cycle, or an imposed schedule, we could allow things to unfold. You could take all the time that was needed. You could relax if you didn’t have job restrictions, time-tables, and monthly deadlines, right? Well, that is what I told myself back then, but I noticed it wasn’t easing the stress I felt when quota came around. So, what’s the solution? When you don’t feel like you have enough time, how can you allow life to simply unfold? How can you allow things to unfold, and release the burdens that beliefs about time and money impose on you?
I found that when I could feel into the spaciousness of the moment, the timelessness of the present, I automatically relaxed and the stress melted away. What does it mean to “feel into the spaciousness” of the moment?
First, you must get into ‘feel’ mode. Walk to a chair and sit down.
Take a deliberate and conscious breath in.
Feel the sensation of the air as it expands your lungs and chest.
Do that several times, each time becoming more present with your body.
Look around and notice where you are with no judgment on what you see.
To look at something with no judgment is to see it with no opinion or interpretation of it. If you find that you are judging, simply notice the thought, and return your attention to the space around you.
Do this for about three minutes, and you will feel yourself expand.
You may be thinking, “That’s all fine and good, but that’s not so easy to do when the bank’s about to foreclose on my home, or my car is about to be repossessed”. When you are feeling imprisoned by time or money, this is exactly when you NEED to tune into the spaciousness of the moment. When we are pressured with deadlines and time constraints, we feel constriction and stress. And, it becomes downright difficult to hear the guidance of your Whisper.
What if you could drop the concept of time for just one day? There is wisdom and power in the gift of just one day without a schedule. I gave myself that gift on my birthday this year. Magical! Simply Magical! I had a surprise visit from a friend and her mother when they popped in to wish me a ‘happy birthday’. They brought with them my favorite cake. It was homemade, moist, and chocolate. Yummy!
After they left, I decided to follow the order of the day, and do exactly what I wanted to do. I cut myself a big chunk of cake, right out of the middle! That’s right! I went against mother’s voice in my head of how to slice and eat a cake. It was delightful! I felt the freedom of eating right out of the middle of the cake. I’d wanted to do that for a long time. There was such freedom from the self-imposed mental prison; from the rules of right and wrong. Who really cares whether you cut from the middle, or the outside of the cake?
As a child it was drilled into me to keep the Sabbath holy. It was not until a few years ago that I really understood the true meaning of the Sabbath – the day of REST. Now, I clearly see how taking one day a week to STOP EVERYTHING, and doing only what you want to do, even if that is absolutely NOTHING, can be productive and necessary.
After a day of play, I am always more tuned in, and I find it easier to receive the sensation of guidance, my Whisper. I feel more alive, more inspired, and ready to act on the next opportunity that comes my way. You too, will be in awe of the inspiration, insights, and creativity that comes from being able to follow the flow; from being able to do exactly what you are excited to do.
A few years ago, a friend of mine told me she had created an ‘hour of power’. Once a week, for an hour, she did absolutely nothing, or whatever she chose… deliberately! It was an hour that made an intentionally positive impact in her life. If you can’t start with an entire day – why not try an hour? If you can’t spare an hour, then you need an hour!!
Thoughts about time are either in the past, or in the future. We are thinking about what already happened, or what we hope or fear will happen. Usually, we scare ourselves with the worst possible outcome. “What if I don’t meet this quota? I’ll lose my job.” “What if I don’t pay my mortgage? I’ll lose my home.”
We could just as easily What If in the other direction. What if I do meet this quota, easily and effortlessly? What if my house and car payment are paid on time? Ask yourself, ‘What if, by giving myself the luxury of an hour, I would receive insights about how to make my house payment? What if, by placing my attention on the inner sensations of guidance, I would know the EXACT next step?”
One of the Six Distinct Ways to recognize inner guidance is Collapsed Time. You have experienced collapsed time whenever you were in a situation where you had the sensation that time seemed to slow down or speed up. The situation or experience was highly meaningful to you, and time seemed to go in slow motion. Or, alternatively, you were intently engaged in a project, or with a friend, and time “flew by”. You may exclaim, “Where did the time go!”
Collapsed Time is our message from inner guidance that time is eternal. Time only “feels” linear because we mentally sequence things and events, one after the other after the other. In Presence, time is eternal, and experiences of Collapsed Time allow us to get a sense of the eternal, the timelessness of existence. To feel this for yourself, deliberately, try doing the following exercise. You may come to find that EVERYTHING GETS DONE ON TIME!
This Week’s Whisper Practice
1. Place your attention this week on time, how fast or slow it moves. Become the observer of time this week. Does it seem to shift with your attention on it? Notice how time seems to speed up or slow down depending on your state of mind. Are you bored? Are you worried? Are you excited? Are you anticipating? Are you energized? As your states of mind shift, what happens to time?
2. Make a “to do” list for this week. Be sure to include everything you can think of that you would like to accomplish this week. You will practice following the energy within as it directs you to each task. Choose 1-5 activities on your list that are fairly important to you, but do not have a scheduled time (appointment) to get done. As you gain experience in this you can include all tasks even those that do have scheduled appointments or “deadlines”.
3. For this week choose up to five tasks, i.e. bill paying, grocery shopping, etc. To develop a partnership with your essential Whisper means listening and feeling for the subtle yet distinctive energy that prompts movement. Wait for the energy to move you to the particular task. Notice what happens to your body and thinking if a thought pops in that makes you believe your task may not get completed. Do you get worried? Does your body tighten up, or do you get a headache or pain?
4. Now notice how it feels when you do the activity with energy and direction, compared to doing it by the clock? Doesn’t it feel lighter and easier?
Extra
Choose one hour each day when you will follow the energy of your soul, instead of, the clock. Select different times of the day. Is it easier to do during certain times of day than other times? How might this affect your “routines” and sense of timing, or the “pulls” you feel on your time?
4 EASY Steps to an Hour of Power:
Step 1. Choose the day and time you will take your Hour of Power
Step 2. Write it on your calendar, right now!
Step 3. Commit to fully give this hour as a gift to yourself and do nothing else during that time.
Step 4. Enjoy!
