An often neglected but powerful underlying cause of distress and imbalance in life is time. Time is an ephemeral concept, but it is also a hard fact that affects our lives ubiquitously. Knowing this and doing nothing about it invites all kinds of difficulties.

How many times have we heard in our life or that of others the complaint that there is not enough time, or in the relationship: “You don’t have enough time for me”, or in families: “You never spend time playing with the children, ” or at work: “You must do more and spend more hours to earn more and accomplish more. Be diligent!”

Everything takes time. If you want to do something well, it takes more time. If you want to save money, it’s not worth it, because it’s a shoddy job.

Symbolic time is everywhere: in the man-made world: clocks, watches, clock towers, neon billboards with time readings, phones with digital readouts, time on your PC, on TV, DVDs and CDs showing periods of time; and in the natural world, morning, noon, afternoon, evening, night, our world is peppered with reminders of time.

Reminders, reminders! You must (if there is enough time), I didn’t get to the bank (because there wasn’t enough time), I will (if I have time). This imaginary and yet factual lack of time (how can we lack time when all we have is time?) causes us stress, contraction, nervousness, fear, illness, irritation and neurosis.

But time is an adversary to which we will eventually inevitably succumb, when we finally run out of it at the end of our lives.

So while we’re still here, let’s get serious. very serious. This is my advice, and it is dearly earned through thoughtful consideration not only of my own, but of the struggles of many others with this perennial and insidious problem.

In a disciplined way, divide your waking life into three parts. Your waking life consists of approximately sixteen hours a day (the other 8 must be spent sleeping). Consider how this time passes. You only have so many hours in the day, over a year, for the rest of your life. Therefore, use them wisely, spend them sensibly, and allow them to bring balance to your life.

Split it like this:

1. time for you: time with and for oneself is essential for inner well-being. Balance and cultivate peace and tranquility, and give you back the feeling of being. It reminds you to care about yourself and puts you in touch with yourself, your body, mind, feelings, emotions, life trajectory, life evaluation, your energy. In fact, there is so much to keep in touch with that only the foolish man or woman would ignore it. Hardly anyone honors time with themselves enough, but your You can do this by taking yourself seriously and realizing that without this essential exercise for your well-being, self-esteem, and happiness, every interaction, encounter, and relationship you have in the outside world is fundamentally flawed. You will relate to the world, to others and deal with the circumstances of life much better if you first take some time with yourself, to attend to yourself and the needs of your soul, and become aware of your needs and inner desires, your deep innate need to attend to yourself.

two. time for others: Everyone has a relationship, interrelationships, interdependence, others in their life. We must attend to these relationships that give us the opportunity to care about someone, something, and someone other than ourselves. So we have to allocate the correct amount of time to this search. Caring implies depth, but first it implies time. The simple act of taking time to be with someone communicates to them that they are important and worthy of their time. Doing things for others out of genuine consideration is good for our souls, spending time with them and letting our concern for ourselves fade refreshes the spirit. A life without love is a life full of pain. So cherish this opportunity because it is precious, one of the most precious aspects of life that exists, and honor it’s.

3. Finally, duty and responsibility: we should all eat! There is a Zen saying: “No work, no food.” It is true, of course, and we know instinctively, intuitively, the correctness of this adage. Working for our livelihood, not only for the things that make us feel comfortable, but for the soul food that it provides us, working and being absorbed in activity, working and losing oneself in industry and action is good for the inner life and inside. wellness Our physical bodies are built to move and strain, stretch and carry; our minds to create and solve problems and our feelings and emotions to be committed, strong and passionate about what we do. We should spend a third of our waking life at work, which is why it is so important that we become aware of our soul purpose, what should be doing.

Please consider the division of time into three parts. Then, if it appeals to you, start by becoming aware of how you divide your time. Then gradually bring it into balance and watch the transformation in your life.