No matter how you may feel, what mood you are in, or in whatever life situation you may find yourself, the one thing never to doubt is you are always, 100 percent, unequivocally, a human resource. With a mind and a body, we humans have the capacity to do. Whenever we take action to do something, we become a resource if not to ourselves then to someone else.
At a minimum, our time is spent on life's essentials: cooking, cleaning, brushing our teeth, sleeping, socializing, working. Time flies when we're having fun, but it also flies when we're active with a purpose. For instance, when we do something that helps another, the activity becomes imbued with meaning and purpose. At this point, our mind and body work with the soul, that something within, which drives us to a selfless, or higher purpose.
Another natural resource we all have here on Earth is time. How we view, nurture and comprehend "time" is up to the individual, and how we approach time can, and does, affect our lives in huge proportions. In the past 24 hours, consider what you've done with your time and evaluate that time spent. Did you enjoy the time? Did you do something with purpose? Did you relax? Did you laugh? If we don't understand how we spend our time we don't carry any standards for how we will spend our time. We might as well sit around and watch the Kardashians all day.
This is not to say one must create lofty goals of time management. Instead, the interior exercise is to slow down time, to be conscious of time as it happens. Start small. Wash your hands and brush your teeth, slowly and methodically. Regardless of what time pressures are around, do this calmly. Take this time. Feel the sensation of the water, the suds, the movement of hands, listen to the running water, be mindful of the cleaning taking place and the purpose of staying healthy, day dream. I oftentimes sing a song to myself when washing my hands (hard to do this when brushing your teeth). This slowing of time calms the central nervous system and creates a base to build upon to slow down bigger chunks of time.
Make mundane activities less mundane and more purposeful. Try mindfulness while cleaning your house. Cleaning and organizing the home has the most value for gaining time in the long run (e.g., not managing clutter) but also for putting meaning, purpose and value into our home life. Even if it's simply clearing off a desk or table, the results are immediate. When we add purpose to the activity of cleaning we give ourselves the authority to value the most basic aspect of our lives: our home environment. No matter what uncontrollable scenarios arise outside the home, your home is a refuge, a place that's clean, organized and calming.
As you set these new standards of time, you will see it's infectious. Kids especially are sensitive to time. They do not respond well to being rushed because they don't yet appreciate the frantic, panic, anxious, fearful, agitated, distressed reason for it. They are also easily bored if they've yet to be directed or inspired on how to approach time wisely. So start with the basics, clean the house with the kids. Don't set terribly practical goals like scrubbing every room. The objective is to impart the value of time onto yourself and your kids so that even cleaning can be a fun, bonding, confidence-building experience when you're in the moment.