With such a full shooting schedule this week, there have been moments where I have wondered ... how will I find the time. Time is such an elusive concept ... our perception of time can be fluid - somethings seem to take forever, others seem like just yesterday although decades may have past. We can find ourselves in situations where we are grappling with time ... if only I had the time. How often do we say this to ourselves. Time becomes our enemy. We watch the minutes tick over, the hours slip by, the months and years disappear and anxiety can creep in ... the feeling that we are running out of time.
When soaking in the bath last night, time passed with deep contentment. I call this kind of bath an "embryotic bath" - it is like going back in time, into the womb. For full effect, you need to let your ears sink below the surface of the water. Suddenly you can hear your heart beating, you can feel the blood running through your veins, your stomach may gurgle. As you allow yourself gently into a place outside of time, you realise that you are tending to the fire, you are stoking the flame of life and drawing into yourself the energy reserves to once again face the world. In this space, you are allowing yourself to heal, now, being well.
This morning I was extremely reluctant to crawl out of the blankets at 5am to get ready for today's full day photoshoot. Instead of getting up, I nestled in deeper for a little more rest. By the time I was in the car, I knew I was pushing it to be at my appointment on time, the heavy rain and atrocious traffic were only compounding the issue. Naturally, I could feel stress and anxiety start to bubble up. My thinking become critical. It can be very easy to slip back into a negative pattern of thinking, to start putting ourselves down, the should haves start springing at us with vengeance. Why am I sabotaging myself today of all days? A day that is going to be physically tough, why am I wanting to make it even more difficult? Why am I investing emotional energy into the stress I am feeling. TIME TO PUSH THE PAUSE BUTTON.
I am going to share with you something I discovered a couple of years ago when I was finding ways to help myself out of a stint of chronic depression. When my stress levels would start to ratchet up the stress-odometer when time was critical and I felt I was running out of time. I would take a deep breath. I would acknowledge my stress, (I am stressed) and then would say very consciously in my mind ... I CAN create time inside of time, I CAN create time inside of time. With absolute certainty, I would run this sentence over and over through my mind. If the thoughts of "I should have", or "if only" or "why didn't I ..." came to mind, I would purposely stop them mid sentence and say I CAN create time inside of time. Something quite magical happens somewhere along this process. Your stress about time evaporates. Suddenly, the brain has something that it can actively work on rather than rehashing things that have already passed. In the moment, it will find ways for you to create time inside of time.
This is what I did this morning, with an absolute certainty. I CAN create time inside of time. Only minutes after renegotiating my perception of my situation, I received a phone call from my client. She had just realised that she had left her laptop at home and would have to go an get it. She would be running at least 30 minutes late for our scheduled start time.
Flying Solo Tip 020365 : Learn how to create time inside of time.