Have you ever heard the phrase: “time is the great equalizer”?

What does that even mean?

I have heard it used like this: No matter who you are – how successful you are – your status in the world – you cannot create more time. We each have only 24 hours a day. 7 days a week. 365 days a year.

But I don’t think that’s true.

Space has been on my mind a lot lately. It is a theme that keeps popping up. Here are 4 conversations I have recently had about space:

• A friend shared with me his wife’s experience of “the space between stories”. Meaning the space you occupy when one part of your life ends and before a new part of your life begins.  I love that concept – that there is a space we hold between who we have been and who we will be.
• I met a woman who referred to herself as a “liminal lawyer”.  Truth be told, I had to look up the meaning of  “liminal”. It means: a transitional or initial stage of a process or occupying a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold.  She was in between positions. Looking for her next identity. Between worlds. What a respectful way to describe her own status.
• I’ve recently started yoga again – or as my 2 year old calls it “yoda”. And in a yoga practice – you search for spaces. The space between your shoulder blades. The space between breaths. The space between your fingers.
• I was approached by an online coach who posed the question: “Kate – do you want to be more powerful?” And that question held my thoughts for an entire afternoon.  What do I want to be “full” of? And I came to the conclusion, that I don’t want to be full.  I always want to leave some space.

And all this thinking about space – got me thinking.  Can we expand time?

Yes.

Here’s how.

• Say no. Stop doing the things you don’t want to do. Focus on the things you do want to do.
• Delegate. The best way to expand time is work with others.  You can do so much more when you delegate to the right people.
• Tech it up. Technology has sped up every aspect of our lives.  Just think about the things you used to spend time doing even 10 years ago that have been sped up through technology.
• Create sacred space. Whatever your spiritual practice – you can create more space and more time through prayer, breathing and meditation.
• Change your environment.  Travel. Work in a different space. Read a book. Have you ever noticed that when you go away for a week it feels like a month?  Doing something different expands your experience of time.

This time of year you might be feeling busy and full. No matter who you are – no matter your circumstances – you can create space. You can expand time.

I don’t subscribe to the notion that time is finite. My commitment is to create more space.

Oh – and enjoy the new Star Wars movie!!