My Fantasy with Time
And Happy New Now!
Hello and Happy New Year!
2025 likely arrived earlier for us in Australia than wherever you are - unless you’re in our beloved neighbouring country of New Zealand. You pipped us at the post!
The clock showing differently in other parts of the world is a weird concept. I understand the need for time zones and how it works, given that it’s a different time of day somewhere else due to the alignment of the earth with the sun and other planets. It’s morning at the same time as it’s evening somewhere else.
But, it’s all still just ‘now’.
So, Happy Now to you!
Another weird thing about the concept of time is a fantasy I’ve found myself living in over recent months.
I don’t know if it’s inspired by having had to manage my time so diligently leading into the end of the year. As a single, working mother with an extroverted child who wanted to do everything and be everywhere, while I was still protecting my own energy and limits to sustain my wellbeing, time management is indeed an art. (I’m good at it, but my skills are often tested!)
Christmas is also hard work in Australia as it coincides with the end of the school year, the winding up of sports seasons, and heatwaves that almost melt the shopping centre’s bitumen car parks while frazzled Christmas shoppers are trying to stay calm in the heat but often not succeeding.
My fantasy could be inspired by all that or due to me now being more finely tuned to the rhythms of the day and the seasons as they change. Living so deeply in nature does that, in the best way.
Either way, I find myself falling into this fantasy on occasion: to live completely free of a calendar and a clock, long-term, to allow the rhythms of nature to reveal themselves to me by the cycles of the moon or the changing of the weather.
It feels like a beautiful dream and I am starting to wonder if there will be a way I can do that once my daughter is up and grown, living her own life wherever she chooses.
The thing I come up against is that we don’t live in small communities anymore, where we see our friends in passing each day. So, even catching up with them takes planning with a calendar. So does paying bills on time or scheduling work meetings. It all needs a calendar.
(This doesn’t mean I have actually given up on the idea or of finding a solution!)
So, I take what I can get and on those days when I don’t have to leave the wilderness I live as a part of, I let go of the clock as much as possible between seeing my daughter off to school and her arriving home.
Presence always feels more spacious.
Watching the clock always feels more limiting.
For me, anyway. Perhaps for you too.
To start this year off, I’ve released 100 Daily Prompts for No Regrets.
Included in those prompts are exercises to become more present, create more space, be kinder to yourself, be braver, and a range of tools to support your life.
They are 2 – 3-minute videos that are not only beautiful, but also life changing. If you action the prompts, you will experience changes in your life. It’s as simple as that.
Did I mention they’re also free?
The release of the videos has begun and will continue for the next ten weeks. You can find them here on my website or directly via the playlist on my YouTube channel. I hope you enjoy the time with them and the results that you generate, as much as I enjoyed creating them for you.
I’ll be back towards the end of the month with the next newsletter and will return to writing fortnightly in February. In the meantime, it’s the summer break here in Australia.
Stay well and choose kindness,
Bronnie.
PS. Your Year for Change is my quiet achiever, the favourite book for some of my readers, and my beloved middle-child that was released in the shadows of The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.
In reflection, I think it now sits as my favourite too, along with my novel which I will release later this year.
The eBook for Your Year for Change is on sale from 12th – 18th January worldwide. The price will vary. For example, if you’re in the USA and visiting Amazon, you’ll see it as $1.99 during the sale. If you’re outside of America, you will see a price converted to your own currency. Either way, it’s a pleasure to know it will be available for you at a much lower price than usual. Mark your calendar for the sale dates.
Happy new year and happy now! May 2025 bring us all, as well as the planet and all living beings, more gentleness.
Never doubt the power that lies in the choices you make.
I resonate so deeply with this expression of time. I noticed during the shelter in place during the pandemic, and likewise now during extended breaks, I feel so much more at ease just flowing within each day with the sunrise, sunset, and listening to what my body needs. Thank you for sharing this!