Creating more time with momentary pauses

How returning to presence can give you more time in your day.

I caught up with a friend recently who said she wanted an extra hour in every day and an extra day in every week. That sounded wonderful to me but I found myself thinking that, even if we had all that extra time, we’d just fill it up. With stuff. Stuff like scrolling or working or cleaning or shopping or watching TV. If we had the gift of extra time, would we actually spend it creating joy or pursuing our dreams?

One of the greatest ironies of life as I know it is that, when we’re busy, we need to pause more.

You might recognise this quote from Ghandi:

‘I have so much to accomplish today that I must meditate for two hours instead of one.’

And you might recognise the sentiment. For me, it’s a deep knowing: in order to accomplish more, I need to pause more.

Pausing leads me to presence and presence is where the magic is

Presence allows me to notice the little things - the glorious rainbow bubble on the spout of the bottle of dishwashing liquid, the deep orange and red hues in the emerging marigolds I planted as seeds. You know these things - the tiny, daily miracles that really do light up the pathway to joy.

Presence helps me in my work as well. Being present to the experience is part of stepping into flow - which is my absolute favourite place to be. I’m lucky to have a creative job where I write and make content all day long. It really is a joy to me. But I’m still prey to all the demands - deadlines, errors, changes, notifications, the lot.

Technology is a time suck, for sure, and I think we have to practice being mindful of how much it takes from us. For me, pausing and stepping into presence is an essential part of thriving in a life awash with competing demands.

Presence is an antidote to overwhelm.

And meditation is a beautiful method of returning to that present state.

Believe me, I am not carving out an hour for formal meditation every day, let alone two. I’m fitting meditation in when I can - and sometimes that’s last thing at night when I’m collapsing into bed.

But what I am doing consistently is seeking out the moments in each day where I can pause, place my hand on my heart, connect with my breath and remember who I am. It sounds so silly - how can we forget who we are? But it’s impossibly easy to lose ourselves in the chaos of the everyday, especially when we’re caring for others or scrambling to keep up with multitudes of obligations and responsibilities.

For me, time slips by so much faster when I forget who I am. But it slows down beautifully when I return to myself.

So, dear reader, I hope you can carve out some sweet, present moments today. Even if you just take a minute to place your hand on your heart and take a deep, conscious breath, you’ll enter a more present state.

And that’s how you’ll start coming home to yourself. The deepest, most authentic expression of you.

Want to carve out a little more time in your day?

We’ve got some short, easy meditations that you might like to listen to for a moment of pause.

‘I can be kind to myself’ is a perfect, short dose of self-compassion.

‘I can find safety in this moment’ is designed to help you through a moment of overwhelm or distress, guiding you to remember who you are.

And ‘I can take time to rest’ encourages you to place a hand on your heart and connect with your breath. There’s a short version – just 5 minutes – or a longer version for a deeper practice.

Categories: : Meditation