All the time in the world.
This is the fastest year I ever lived. I think I've said that to you before, but I'm thinking about it again.
And you know how I've been looking for a time elf? I still haven't found one, but I've been exploring time in other ways.
There are (at least) two kinds of time.
Chronos time is a ticking clock, slices of measured time falling away. Minutes, days, hours, decades, aeons. The sand, falling through the hourglass, that won't stop. Feels kind of breathless to me - particularly now that it's going so fast.
But, the other kind of time, that's where it gets interesting. The other kind of time is Kronos time. For me, it's like time outside of time. Where you're absorbed and have no awareness of clocks. Hours might pass but you're not aware of them. You're somewhere else. You're in deep time, in Kairos time, where you really can have all the time in the world. Perhaps you know it as a flow state. Perhaps it's where you drop into a daydream and live a decade in the time it takes to blink.
It's hard to find doors into Kairos time when the sand keeps hissing through the glass. How do you get into time outside of time when everything is going, going, going and it wont. slow. down?
I am still figuring this out myself, but here are a few things I think that I know.
It's very very hard, if not impossible, to get into Kairos time from your ordinary waking state. It requires a state change, a shift in your consciousness, in order to access it. This sounds complicated, but it's not, really. You change states all the time.
How?
You know I'm going to put creativity in here - creative activities are a great way to change states. You're in a different state when you're colouring in or gardening than you are when you're trying to wrangle your to do list. It happens in art group all the time - we get to the end and say 'where did the time go?'.
Driving long distances does it for me; it induces a kind of trancelike awareness. As does listening to a yoga nidra meditation. Listening to music. Going for a long walk - the rhythm of my footsteps lulls me into a different state of consciousness. Any kind of movement can be good for this. Spending time in nature, away from straight lines and right angles (my brain finds that very soothing - the way there aren't really any straight lines or precise angles in the natural world). Daydreaming.
How do you know you've changed states? You feel different. The kinds of states that seem to work to drop you into Kronos time feel, to me, softer. Quieter. Dreamier. More receptive and open to mysterious happenings. Perhaps for you it's different.
Putting your phone on flight mode and forgetting about it is another good way to create a welcome for Kairos time. In my house, the only clocks I have are on my phone and on my laptop, so if I don't look at either of them it's easier to drop out of clock time and into something else. I have my phone on flight mode overnight; some days I leave it like that and while my mornings still feel like they're passing, they have more of a flavour of deep time than if I am looking at my phone.
Perhaps the most important thing I know is that Kairos time is soul nourishing. It's like a magic well. When I go there, I come back refreshed. Every time. It's good for my mental health. It's good for my creative inspiration. It's just good.
So here's an experiment for you that might break your brain a little.
What if you were to set a timer for ten minutes of Chronos tick tick clock time, get comfortable, perhaps lie down somewhere cosy, and let that ten minutes be forever. For that ten minutes, can you have all the time in the world? Perhaps your logical mind might fight you. But what else might happen?
And, for the last time for a while, if you'd like to experience Kairos time through creative work, come along to this week's art group. We'll be exploring the power of symbols, and looking at some of our own personal symbols. That's happening this Thursday, August 1.
And it'll be the last art group for a while - I'm feeling the need to drop into my own deep time, to daydream and be outside of time for a while.
So if you'd like to join me, I'd love to see you there.