Hi and welcome to this meditation on changing our relationship to time.
The mind often tells us that we do not have enough time or that we are wasting time,
Which creates impatience,
Stress,
And frustration in our daily lives.
But time is just a mental construct,
It's a story that we create.
Sure,
Organizational time exists,
Such as when we say we have a meeting at 10am or that we'll be taking a tennis lesson for one hour.
But when we hear our minds telling us for instance that we do not have time for this or that we're tired of waiting,
We can start to reprogram the brain so that it gives less power to these stories that are not useful to us.
The mind wants to do everything faster and to check items off its to-do list,
But we can teach it to be more patient.
We can make it see that waiting is just a state of mind.
If we're sitting and staring while on the beach,
We don't feel like we're waiting.
But if we're sitting and staring in the same position at the doctor's office or at the airport,
We feel like we're waiting.
Instead of letting the mind decide that we're waiting,
We can learn to focus our attention elsewhere,
Perhaps by connecting to the body and going into meditation,
Or by becoming fully aware of everything around us.
For example,
By focusing on a tree on the side of a road when we're stuck in traffic.
Eckhart Tolle once said that stress is being here while wanting to be there.
When we are able to train our minds to see that wanting to be there accomplishes no purpose,
Then we become free to allocate our attention elsewhere and to never wait again for a single day in our lives.
Another thing our mind does in an attempt to save time is to make us do multiple things at the same time.
But we know today from studies on cognition that it's impossible to be fully focused on more than one thing at once.
When we wrongly believe that we're successfully multitasking,
What we're actually doing is something more akin to rapid task shifting.
And this rapid task shifting actually depletes us of our energy and makes us lose focus.
Thus,
The paradox of multitasking is that we feel more busy and expand more energy but accomplish less.
Therefore,
A key practice to upgrade our brain is simply to teach ourselves to do one thing at a time,
To preserve our limited resources for attention,
And to try as much as possible to start a new task only when we have completed the previous one.
Personally,
One of the tricks that has completely changed my mind is the 40 minute rule.
When I have a task that will take a while to accomplish,
Such as working on a document,
I turn off my phone and wifi and focus on the task for 40 to 90 minutes without interruption.
This has allowed me to dramatically improve my productivity while also freeing up a good amount of time.
Start by sitting symmetrically and upright,
But without it being uncomfortable.
Close your eyes to start the journey within,
And close your mouth so that you're only breathing through your nose.
Our nostrils filter the incoming air better than our mouths do,
And thus allow for slower,
More serene breathing.
Become entirely still.
You're completely motionless,
Except for the air coming in and out of your nostrils.
Observe your breathing.
It occurs naturally and automatically,
Without you having to do anything.
Now observe your current mood as if you were inspecting your emotions from the outside looking in,
As if these emotions were separate from your being,
And notice how the air coming in is colder than the air coming out of your nostrils.
If at any point during this meditation you're bothered by distracting thoughts,
It's perfectly normal and it's part of the practice.
When you notice these thoughts,
Simply refocus your attention on the cold air coming in and the warm air coming out,
That is to say the present moment.
Without forcing anything,
And simply by observing the air coming in and out,
Allow your breathing to slow down so that the flow of air gradually becomes thinner and thinner.
As if this stream of air were a magical substance,
Bringing you joy with every inhale.
We're now going to focus on 7 affirmations to change our relationship to time and turn the mind into a tool for more productivity and enjoyment.
Pay attention to the words contained in these affirmations,
While remaining focused on the physical sensation of the breath coming in and out of your nostrils.
First affirmation,
I can't change the past,
But I can always do my best here and now.
Second affirmation,
Waiting is an opportunity to fully connect to the present moment.
Third affirmation,
Through the practice of patience,
I feel more joy and confidence.
Fourth affirmation,
I practice patience by focusing on my breathing.
Fifth affirmation,
I do only one thing at a time.
Sixth affirmation,
Quality of my experience depends on where I place my attention in each moment.
Seventh and final affirmation,
I accept things as they are.
Before finishing this meditation,
Once again observe your current mood as if you were inspecting your emotions from the outside looking in.
And when you're ready,
You can slowly come out of this meditation and start noticing the surrounding sounds,
The weight of your clothes on your body,
And of course all the colors around you.
I hope you found today's meditation helpful.
Personally,
Making the decision to never wait again for a single moment is one of the things that has changed my life the most.
Don't hesitate to come back to this meditation if you'd like to make today's affirmations a more automatic way of thinking in your brain.
Have a great rest of the day,
And I'll see you next time for a new meditation.
