While being on my summer holidays the topic of time and timing came to the front of my thoughts and feelings. There is a notion of power and freedom integrated into the concept of time. A power and freedom of choosing among different choices, and of taking responsibility for these choices. You choose how to spend your time, what to create with and within it, what to leave behind and how to continue, what a certain period means to you, etc.

To live one day at a time, with gratitude, is a principle I am trying to follow daily. However, I have to be honest, it is much easier and effortlessly to live my days this centered while I am on my holidays or during weekends, as it is during my regular working days. The perception of time and timing differs about our situation, attitude, and state of being.

I am writing this post after I have spent two sunny weeks in a beautiful coastal area, with amazing sunsets, and with lots of time to recharge and rethink. It seems like the time flew differently during those two weeks. Sometimes hours were just passing by, and sometimes a moment and an hour seemed to be longer than in Ljubljana. Like there was more content and quality in certain moments. I know that what was different, was me, my perception, my presence, and my focus.

My coach often says to slow down to the pace of life when getting overwhelmed by everything that is going on in your life. It is important to remember to slow down, to take time for what you need in a certain moment, to take time to just be, to reflect, to get a more objective perspective, to get more clarity, and to utilize your resources more optimally. It seems like we would miss or lose something if we would slow down, or pause for a while. But it is quite the opposite. It is like you give yourself a gift – you create a time for what you need or would like to create, and it adds quality to your time – to your life.

The phrase we use to take some time off when we take vacations or when we need to rethink and recharge indicates a black-and-white perception. There is an ‘on time’ when we have a full schedule of obligations and activities, and there is an ‘off time’ when we stop, pull out, and take some time for ourselves. It is of course not so black and white. It is more like a yin and yang, and it is more like a constant balancing dance through and between a time for action, and a time to pause, relax and recuperate. The interesting part is that the so-called ‘off time’ could be even more active and ‘on’ than a so-called ‘on time’. Since we take the time to be more present, more aware, and more in alignment with ourselves, things can come together and bring more clarity about where we are in certain moments and phases of life, and where and how to continue. Answers and ideas are much more accurate and interesting in this state of being.

Preparing for the upcoming regular working week and cycle, I have decided to integrate more of the ‘off time’ into my daily schedule and to fill it with more time to recharge, rethink, create, and be more present and aware. If paraphrase Tibet’s saying, if you take care of moments, life will take care of itself.