Living a Kairos Life in a Chronos World

Everything we do is marked by the steady march of time. Seconds lead to minutes to hours to days to weeks to years to decades to centuries. The problem for each of us is that the clock is always running in the wrong direction, and we simply cannot stop its precipitous crawl toward the next tick. We lose moments to the past with regret, out of our reach, never to be regained. Where did all the years go? Did I miss out on my chance to make a difference?

The Greek language has a couple of words that mean "time." The first is essentially clock time - chronos. It means the chronology of days, governed by the carefully calculated sweep of the earth around the sun. It is linear and sequential, and a good foundation for our egos to hold onto. Then there is kairos time, which is sacred time – non-linear, aligned with the higher part of ourselves. It is the soul's timing and works naturally, without force or contrivance.

When we stand back to assess our lives and evaluate how far we have come and what we have achieved, we do so with respect to chronos time. Each of us can judge that we hit certain milestones and missed others. Some of the things we expected did not come to pass, so maybe there are disappointments and regrets and the weight of baggage that we seem destined to bear to the end. If one could only unload this baggage and be free of the mistakes and shortcomings of the past, it would all be so much easier.

What shifts the weight of our baggage is simply acknowledging it. Owning the baggage of a particular event or crisis that our soul needed to live through allows us to claim it. And only by claiming it can we then let it go.

Only by letting go of many of the stories that have been defining us and confining us can we align our identity with our deeper truth – the soul story that lies beneath the surface drama of who we are according to our ego. There are always things we think we could have done differently, done better. Dive right into them to catch a glimpse of the underlying story our soul is living out. When we listen to our soul story we can release the idea that life is something happening to us. We can reclaim the power to steer a better course through the high seas of life.

In order to change the perception of just what is possible, we must claim what it is that has weighed us down and just what excuses we have been relying upon to keep us closed and unworthy of love. The baggage that we all hide from is, in effect, our own personal soul story, one that is unfolding perfectly in sacred time. If life has not turned out precisely as you expected, free yourself from the burden of regret by acknowledging that you are exactly where you need to be.

It doesn't mean that life might not be painful or frustrating, but what you need to take from this is that you have the power, no matter at what point in life that you are – you have the power to change your life instantly – now – simply by changing your perspective.

All those excuses used as reasons not to love yourself are but lessons to challenge, refine, and even polish your soul. Those stories that are hard to let go of – acknowledge them, then let them go. Love yourself when you look in the mirror, enough to see that you deserve much more than to dwell on them and punish yourself with regret. You own the stories that have kept you in hiding. These are the narrative of your soul's journey.

It is time to clean out your inner closets. Dig through the piles and lay the contents of your life at your feet. This is everything that makes you what you are and what you will be able to do and become.

Consider perhaps the most important question you have ever asked yourself: If you didn't have baggage – if you didn't have dark stories that give you shame and regret – how would you ever practice the power of love??? What if every traumatic event we have endured, every regretful choice we have made, is actually an opportunity for the soul to spread its wings and fly high???

We lift the weight of whatever it is that has held us down by CHOOSING to believe that everything in our lives has happened for the development and growth of our soul. Everything that has happened – the good, the bad, and the ugly – has happened for a reason at the exact time it needed to happen in our lives. Everything.

In the end, there is really only one thing of importance in life – cultivating the capacity to love. If your bag is full of regrets and heartaches and what-ifs, maybe it is time to empty it out and fill it with love. That's all you can take with you when you leave this life, so that is all you really need to travel through it. Unload all that you do not need. Travel light!