I love it when the Spirit interjects a perspective I haven’t considered before into a session. It’s often an “ah-ha!” moment form my client and myself and always leaves me with much to think about. I feel lucky to be delivering this profound wisdom. It went something like this…

“No, that’s not what we’re suggesting. Simply that you consider your consciousness, your purpose for the moments you have”. They continue, “You came here to experience Joy, to evolve your Spirit self, to gratify your Soul, to work, to play, to evolve, to discover. To give your precious self to hardship, to undo struggle, to the weight of other’s expectations, to guilt, to shame is a waste. Waste not, want not, as you say.” “Time is the commodity of your existence. To spend it feeling you’ve wasted it, doing from obligation as opposed to from Desire, is a true waste. To live under the weight of “should and supposed to” is not living. To spend your time in Joy, experiencing your life, practicing your gifts, sharing yourself, feeling your feelings and choosing to live for yourself from freedom, not expectation, is truly time well spent. This is your playground, learn from it, and in learning, learn to not waste it, for it is not free. Each moment is spent, gone, therefore, it is not free.”

I’m sitting down with a client, which is good when I’m about to be blown away by a wisdom piece from Spirit, and we’re having a conversation about business, progression, and creating a balance between family and work. Don’t hate me for saying this, but no one struggles with work/life balance issues like businesswomen. We’re pulled by the desire to be successful in our own right, make decent money, make a difference in the world, lead a team, etc., and also pulled directly by everyone else’s needs, wants and expectations in our personal life. It’s like the cold pressure system and the warm pressure system colliding and creating the ever-so-powerful thunderstorms my beloved Midwest is famous for. Dorothy never would’ve gotten swept away by the tornado if she would’ve had a husband, kids, extended family, friends, co-workers, a boss, and a community position holding her down telling her they needed her attention now. But, I digress.So here we are, sitting down having said conversation about time and balance, and the struggle, which is very real. My client is trying to convince me there is no reason she’s not accomplishing everything with ease since her kids are off in college, she’s single, and has nothing to focus on at her house but herself and her business. Oh yeah, and the aging Mother, who between you and me sucks the life out of everyone around her. She drives 90 minutes way to visit her Mother. Her Father is in charge of caring for her Mother, and her siblings user her as their constant support system when they’re not complaining about living so far away, and can’t figure why she can’t be home to care for their mom, help their dad, listen to them, and support her family while she’s got things going so her mortgage gets paid and her lawn get s mowed. You know, really, why? (Insert sarcasm) Sigh. Pah-lease.

“I have lots of free time!” she tells me. And then it comes. “There is no such thing as free time”, says the voice of Spirit.

“What?” I say in my inside voice to them.

“There is no such thing as free time,” they say once again.

“I don’t get it”.

“There is no such thing as free time,” they say once again.

I’m thinking, “Well, of course, there is free time”. We all love our free time. It’s the time we get to do nothing, relax, go for a walk, read a book, binge-watch Netflix, bake scones, in our free time. We all refer to it as free time. It’s the time where no one and nothing else needs us so we get to totally be selfish with our time and do whatever we want, or nothing if that is indeed what we want to do. Free time. It’s a thing!

So, they begin to speak. “No time is free. It all has a cost. Once a moment is gone, it’s gone, never to come or be repeated again. The entire cosmos changes at each moment. It has never been before, nor will it ever be again. It is gone. So, it has a cost. Each moment is finite, an existence of its own, only a blink of an eye. But it will never be that particular blink again, nor has it ever before. Time is constantly moving; it waits for no one or for nothing. That is why you say, “I’ve wasted my time” because you know there were opportunities at that moment that will never repeat themselves the same way again. Time is not free. Your life here is limited, so every moment counts for something. Time is in fact, not free. How you use your time, is how you use your money, your exchange. You only get to spend each dollar one time. Like that, are your seconds.”

Well, I’ll be dipped. I’ve never thought of that!

Folks, I’m old enough to have had a few life experiences and plenty I’d love to repeat and a few I’d have rather gone without, but such is this life. Never has it been so clear to me that I have been making choices with every second I am breathing on this big blue ball.
My first thought was “Crap! No more Netflix nights?!” Do I really have to think about every single second I’m breathing and question if I’m making the most of that time? Man, it seems like way more pressure than I want to take on.

“No, that’s not what we’re suggesting. Simply that you consider your consciousness, your purpose for the moments you have”. They continue, “You came here to experience Joy, to evolve your Spirit self, to gratify your Soul, to work, to play, to evolve, to discover. To give your precious self to hardship, to undo struggle, to the weight of other’s expectations, to guilt, to shame is a waste. Waste not, want not, as you say.” “Time is the commodity of your existence. To spend it feeling you’ve wasted it, doing from obligation as opposed to from Desire, is a true waste. To live under the weight of “should and supposed to” is not living. To spend your time in Joy, experiencing your life, practicing your gifts, sharing yourself, feeling your feelings and choosing to live for yourself from freedom, not expectation, is truly time well spent. This is your playground, learn from it, and in learning, learn to not waste it, for it is not free. Each moment is spent, gone, therefore, it is not free.”

Please keep in mind (if it’s not completely blown by now) that I’m sharing these messages with my client as we’re talking and Spirit it talking and we’re both like totally “WTF?! How did we never think of it this way?!” It’s because Spirit is cool like that. The most seemingly obvious perspectives are totally lost on us until we’re ready to crack open and get the bigger picture.

Many of you are right now probably reading this thinking, “Anne, seriously, you’re such a dork. This never occurred to you before?” Nope. Never. Not to my client either. Others of you are probably thinking, “that’s it! I need to get off the couch and go for a walk at least!” That’s cool. If that is what’s meaningful to you right now, do it. And do it again tomorrow if it’s of good service to you. Because that, my sweet Soul friends, is what it’s all about.

“You have available time, not free time. When you see your time as available, there is a perception of give and take. If I spend time on this, I don’t have it for that. The desire is for you to be intentional about how you are using your time. Don’t use it for things that make you feel empty. That is truly wasted time.” Is it of good service to you? Is that how and what you want to spend your never-to-be-repeated-again-ever moment doing? Does it lift you up or drag you down? Simply put, this is what Spirit invites us to pay attention to. This isn’t about fulfilling some impressive bucket list agenda, this is about developing consciousness about how we are spending, literally spending, our time. Do I feel good? Do I feel fulfilled in this? Is there a lesson, or growth available in this hardship (because that’s life too!)? Can I be available to it? Am I open? Am I paying (damn another reference!) attention?

Yay, all of us. When we recognize what is meaningful to us, and we consider for a moment that each minute is a gift we will never receive again, we can be more purposeful in our spending.
We’re “spending” every moment of every day. Mind. Blown.

So, the good news is, the invitation is simple. Be mindful not just what you’re doing with your time, but more so, why are you doing what you’re doing. Is it because someone else said you should? Or expects you to? Or are you trying to be enough for someone so you can feel like you deserve some you time? Screw that. Time on this plain is finite. When we’re done, we’re done.

The great news is this little conversation helped my client develop a more clear sense of what is important to her, and a more proactive approach to her entire life and what she gives her time (thoughts are time spent also, people!) and energy to. She started looking at everything she was truly doing with her time and started developing more practical goals and objectives, and boundaries (so important!). She stepped into a place of value for her time, and accordingly a place of empowerment in her life as a whole. Yay, her!

Yay, all of us. When we recognize what is meaningful to us, and we consider for a moment that each minute is a gift we will never receive again, we can be more purposeful in our spending.

Now there is a tip you can take to the bank.

Blessings Galore, Anne