Different cultures have different relationships with time. Our profit based culture is also a culture of never-enough and of lack (see an earlier post on scarcity as a state of mind, inclusive of time). We equate time with money, of which we never seem to have enough either, and hence we always seem to be short on time. A twenty-four hour day is never long enough, we are always under the impression that we could've or should've done more. We experience a constant race against time, and with it comes tremendous stress.

But time is a human construct. We made linear time up because we can't really wrap our minds around the new fangled and quantum informed concept of it all happening at the same time. Ask Einstein. We exist in this self-erected prison of a mental construct, and we built our economy and culture around it.

Imagine for a minute that you had all the time in the world. It might be a gift. It would be such a relief. Would you know what to do with it? It might also be a burden. Many of us need deadlines in order to accomplish tasks. Deadlines give us a linear path from here to there, and a clear sense of direction. But far-niente-cultures (far niente is Italian for doing nothing), those Southern cultures that know how to linger forever around an outdoor table with nothing else to do than stare into the distance while sipping something, lunch morphing into dinnertime, experience a lot less stress.

What if we really made it all up? What if we could let it go, at least temporarily, on weekends and on vacation? What is your relationship with time?