TALK WELLBEI NG
SLOW DOWN
Spring is traditionally the time of renewal, regeneration, re-birth and never more so than in 2021. This Spring signals more than just the flourish of green shoots, blossoms and perfect woolly lambs, it’s the chance we’ve all been waiting for since life changed in so many ways in the last year. Perversely many of us have come into Spring, a time when the body is naturally waking up with energy levels increasing, from a place of fatigue as business owners in particular have struggled with real time out. Lockdown 1.0 brought a definite pause and many of us were able to truly slow down, reflect and become aware of the sense of quality time.
John Cleary Photography ©
TO SPEED UP
Chronos, the linear measurement of time which we literally set our watch by, is held in importance to us in the modern western world – we allocate specific amounts of time to a task, some of us charge by it, we arrange our lives by it and we set deadlines against it for the goals we are looking to achieve.
Conversely, the free and endless time we experience when we are in the moment is known as Kairos – a time that we simply don’t access enough. Kairos is important in life and business, not least because it’s a time that carries a quality with it. Kairos derives from an ancient Greek term meaning “a fleeting opportunity that needs to be grasped before it passes”. How many of us feel that, in the daily blur of business, at times we are chasing after our tails and letting slip those opportunities that feel most relevant?
However, when we do this, we create barriers and false stops that can prevent us getting where we really want to be and more so simply enjoying the moment when we get there.
Children, yet to be conditioned to Chronos, are the masters of Kairos. They don’t understand why they have to hurry up and get ready for school, they are fully engaged and are living in the moment (or muddy
