Are there benefits to being 'pulled out' of Time?

I recently flew from eastern USA back to Edinburgh, and am dealing with the inevitable jet lag that accompanies the long trip.

An in perfect keeping with the message of this blog, as I attempted to type out 'jet lag', my fingers chose 'Jen lag', and the phrasing could not be more correct!

As I type this out, my body is unclear about the date, day, or time. I'm not sure if I'm hungry, hangry, sleepy, asleep, or somewhere in the middle of all of this. I suspect that some strange middle point of everything, all sensations, all awarenesses, is where I really 'am'.

I often think of crossing time zones as traveling both through time, and somehow over it. The elevation of the plane takes us out of the normal schedule of the day, and sets us back down in two - my body still feels 5 hours behind, my mind struggling, exhausted, trying to move 5 hours ahead.

This liminal or double space feels uncomfortable, and part of me wants to race ahead a few days, to when my own inner clock will have synced with the current BST. But I am also acutely aware that this distortion of perception, this freeing from time, holds a gift within it.

So many of us feel so controlled by time - either constricted, limited, pushed back OR that it is pushing us ahead, rushing, moving us at a pace that produces anxiety and stress. AND sometimes that relationship with time can oscillate back and forth between the two.

Take a moment, close your eyes, and allow your awareness of what time it is, what day it is, what season it is, to loosen, expand, release within you. Allow any forward momentum, racing, pushing to end. Breathe deeper, and feel spacious, light, and free, without the perception of time's limitation seemingly controlling you.

Part of you may feel uncomfortable, unsteady, unsure without the reference points that time creates - when to sleep, eat, exercise, communicate, travel. Sit in the discomfort for a few moments, and allow the fears to subside. Allow your attachment to time, to its direction or dictation to ebb, and a sense of freedom to flow...

Allow a new sense of syncopation, new beats, new rhythms to emerge within you. Get a sense of the flow of the day, and notice what could change if you allowed a new flow of energy, choice, creativity. Let your mind expand, to include the unexpected, synchronicities, space for new wisdom and insight to make itself known.

Time is a tool. But like any tool, it all depends on how you use it. You can make it your prison guard, or you can invite it to dance with you. What could change for you today if you chose to dance?

Spend as long as you want, meditating with the following questions:

• As a tool, how have I used Time? Has it served me, or have I been confused in how to allow it to support me?
• What would it feel like for Time to be a friend, a support, a co-creator? What needs to shift in my perception to allow this?
• Where do I feel out of sync with my life? What would help me to find the rhythm again?
• Which areas of my life feel rushed? Which feel painfully slow? What can I understand about Time that would reconcile this for me?

Remember that Time is a construct meant to serve you. You can change your perception of it any moment of the day (or night, or year).

-Jennifer <3

P.S. We'll be exploring these bigger themes within the Cycles of Existence online event! You're welcome to join us live, and/or watch the recording at your convenience