I just don't have the time..

to say hi, to send a message, to be still (in mind and body) for one minute, to say thank you or please, to listen to my body, to take a break.. to actually live and feel what it’s like to be alive rather than grind all the time and fill my plate up so I’m always busy, because that makes me important, right? Slow down, rest a little and take it easy?

Sorry, I just don’t have the time.

What’s our fascination with time anyway? It’s how we measure pretty much everything. “Hoh, it’s the almost the end of May already?!” “How long have you been together?” “Four months + six days til my birthday…” “7min video? Ha, yeah right..”

Time is a man made construct, as we know. But just because it governs our almost every move, doesn’t mean it’s the most important or valued element in life. That would make the longest musical composition, the best one. The amount of time you spend on something, or with someone - the most valuable. Obviously, not the case. I’ve invested a lot of time into projects, relationships and ideas that have resulted in rejection, failure and time I could’ve spent on other things. Learning opportunities, nonetheless, but anyway.. what surpasses time?

‘It’s not the hours you put in the work that counts, it’s the work you put in the hours’

If you could complete your whole day of work before morning tea, would you do it? Or would you drag out the work, to make it last longer? Make it seem like you’re super busy? I do that sometimes. I distract myself with distractions and all of a sudden “I just don’t have the time” to rest/recover/heal/eat healthy/meditate etc. because I’ve gotta catch up on the work I was supposed to do earlier (that I allocated to who knows what). I just don’t have the time…

If anything, all we have is time. It just gets divided between the different elements in our lives, we’ve allowed for.. but how do you prioritise what/who gets what? How do you prioritise your time, your energy and your attention? If what you’ve been doing hasn’t been working for ya, try what our tupuna (ancestors) used to do,

see the whakairo within the tree.

The whakairo (carving) is the goal, the dream, the vision you want to realise and you must see it, know it, visualise it before you fell the tree, start chipping away and bringing your vision to life. See the whakairo that represents your ideal life, self, relationships, work etc. and reaffirm it regularly. Remind yourself of the vision constantly, so that “I just don’t have the time” sounds more like “it’s not a priority” and over time dissolves into nothing at all.

Don’t get too caught up on what you remove, on what you ‘unbecome’ that it takes your attention away from the bigger vision. Don’t get too busy grinding away, that you forget to sharpen your tools and develop yourself to become more effective and efficient.

Don’t focus too much on what you’re doing that you forget about why.. why you’re in it in the first place, why it’s important, why you’re seeing it through, why they mean so much to you.. see the whakairo, see the vision first.

Tēnā tātou,

Hana.