I don’t let go of my concepts—I meet them with understanding.  Then they let go of me…Byron Katie

Have you ever thought about your concept of time?  A few months ago a dear friend of mine was experiencing time frustration and loudly expressed his stress feeling over a cell phone with, “Joa, you need to think about time.”   For the next week, when my hands were busying doing other things, my mind was on the word time.

 The result of this thinking, listening and research was to realize how much of our personal power has been given away to our concept of time.  Then I went to a concert given by (name dropping) Karen Taylor-Good who made the concept perfectly clear with one song, “Healing in the Hands of Time.”  For anyone unfamiliar with Karen; please get to know her music and writing for an awesome model of living well.

 Back to this time issue…for many years, I labeled myself “Time Challenged” and knew that I did not sense time in the same manner as a lot of other people.  I went to time management seminars, used organizers, set alarms and compared myself to other people seemed who had mastered control of time.  Time was not my friend…we were in an ongoing war in which I seemed to be taking all the hits.  This is what happens with internal battles when concepts conflict. 

 As with any conflict when I thought I had ‘it’ and could reach a compromise I got hit by a sniper because each person had their own concepts about being on time.  I learned very early that being on time for an appointment to some people (entire cultures) means showing up as much as two hours early.  Some people (cultures) are just the opposite and always run an hour later than the set time.  Then there are those people who run their life from a day-timer and clock.  They take time as being written in stone expressing personal offense if everyone else does not do the same.

It was within this confusion that I labeled myself “Time Challenged” because I had a different relationship with time.  In my concept, time does not move in increments like seconds, minutes or hours.  When I am writing, working or involved in any project…time stands still.  I always think that I can do more in a time period allotted by someone else than I seem to physically be able to accomplish.  For many years, I wore a watch set 15 minutes fast and would look at it at what was for me the same intervals.  I could look at my watch and see for example 5:15…5:20…5:22…6:30.

 The issue with applying a label on a concept is that it gives an identity to a belief that implies value either being more or less.  Labeling differences in concepts, appearance, culture, or even learning styles is the first step in setting up a class system.  In any class system there must be a superior and inferior and those who think of themselves as superior feel the need to fix and save those who are inferior. 

 When I labeled myself as ‘time challenged’  my concept of time became inferior or worth less than another’s concept and I gave away my personal power to control my thinking about my worth.

 Let’s look at the negative power given to the concept of time:

**      Running Out Of  Time       **      Time is Money

**      Wasting Time                       **     Spending Time

**     Lacking Time                        **     Never Enough Time

**     Racing against Time

 How many behaviors spring from impatience which is an emotion based on the concept of time?  Road rage or yelling at children to hurry up or yelling at friends to think about time are all behaviors based on our own concepts and really have nothing to do with the other person.

The following passage is my understanding of time:

For everything there is a season, And a time for every matter under heaven:                       A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate,
A time for war, and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

 Living Well with Time is making peace with living in the Now while allowing others to live within their own concepts and move to the beat of their own heart.

Love, Light & Lots of Laughter…Joa

www.joacarter.com