The season is changing. So are you and so am I. Let’s pay creative attention to the changes by imagining them and then shaping clear intentions for how we will move in the flow of time.
Planning how your will will manifest in time is a spiritual practice.
I’ve been slowly(over the last 18 months) developing a rhythm of conscious seasonal planning (90 day plans). This effort works to bring my will into a right relationship with time. This requires me to imagine wisely so that my imagination is in right relationship to my will forces.
The seasonal/90day attention really allows for significant imaginations to manifest. Yearly imaginations can feel overwhelming and monthly, weekly, or daily imaginations can feel too small to matter. If we look at the cosmos and nature to see creative cycles for living, for shaping life, we can see the seasonal cycle offers the most meaningful and purposeful possibilities.
I also am finding it clarifying to distinguish my imaginations and intentions around my will and my time in three realms: the spiritual, the practical, and the moral. Initially, this was challenging, but the more I struggled with this threefold relationship to time, the richer and more satisfying my life has become.
One thing that deepens the meaning of this planning, is recognizing that in choosing only 1-3 intentions or goals you are sacrificing many others. You will choose to do and to not do!
In designing your will life, you must face the finitude of your time and your will… timeout and burnout! When we fail to work with the reality of the finite, we will suffer chronic existential overwhelm, frustration, and despair.
Thinking and imagining are without limitations of any sort. I can think about spending time doing amazing things that I would love to do but when it comes to my time and my will forces (and often my finances) they are not doable. I can imagine the undoable.
Every season, month, week, day or hour I must choose what I will give my limited will and time to and what I will sacrifice to the no time/undone realm of my soul. And I need to honor my impossible possibilities with grieving. Every timeframe needs a time for grieving. We need a grieving notebook. What is grief and how does one grieve? Why?!
Likewise, we need a forgiveness notebook for all the errors and mistakes, all the neglect and abandonment, all the denials and excesses. What is forgiveness? How does one forgive? Why?!
Finally, we need a completion notebook. I have completion blindness and fail to see what I have finished. No way to resonate with “Well done! Good job!” I have completion numbness as my feelings go flat and I only feel the urgency to get on with the next job, challenge, or mountain. I always feel guilty when I rest as I see it avoidance and laziness. Did I finish a task, complete a project, or accomplish a goal? Did I take a single step
or did I climb that mountain? The celebration should not vary or discriminate. Wildly celebrate both the tiny details and the grand finales.
How do I notice, appreciate, and celebrate my completions? I am just learning to celebrate. Maybe I just need to write it down in the completion notebook and then smile for a few seconds. Do I have a completion friend who will witness me celebrating?
If as a child, I had been taught to grieve consciously, forgive compassionately, and celebrate my completions, my adulthood would have, might have had more clear spiritual, moral, and practical joy, development, confidence, and serenity.
Note: Cosmos vs. Calendar
Do I begin my season based on the sun or on the calendar? I do both.
Spiritually, this means I am paying attention to the Solstices & Equinoxes the the cosmic gesture of the Seasons.
Practically, I work with the calendar in four 3-month rhythms.
And morally, I work with the needs of my soul to be at one with the mystery of life, others and myself. Morally, time is of the moment rather than the minute. I find moral attention is reflection as much as intention.
168 Hours
Each week has 168 hours. If we take away the hours we spend sleeping (avg 7/night or 49 hours in a week) we have 119 hours for our will to be active. If you work for someone else or for yourself, block out those obligated hours. And then block out any regularly committed hours for eating, bathing, exercise, house-cleaning, etc. Play with your week of waking hours and learn how you use your time. Then you know how much free time you have each week for
playtime and deeptime.
Deeptime is for your inner development: finding, knowing, and becoming yourself. This is the time you seek wisdom, know love, and become free. It is angel talk time. Mysterytime. The time you spend with whatever you call the Source, Spirit, or God. It is selftime, sacred and essential. And it doesn’t need to be a lot of minutes but it does need a lot of devotion. Devotion is the will to love yourself unselfishly,
to fill your soul with freedom beyond prescribed practices, and to find wisdom that surprises and inspires.
Part Two of this blog: I have written about the three seasons: spiritual, practical and moral on my blog page. I hope you have the time to click and read and contemplate. I think you will learn a lot about yourself and time and your will. I did!
