Time Shifting: Creating More Time to Enjoy Your Life
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Overview
Do you ever feel so rushed that you can't stop to think? That you don't have enough time to do your job well--or even to read this paragraph carefully? That's because you spend your time either speeding forward or thinking about the past few minutes, without really concentrating on living in the present moment.We all have the capacity to look at time--and, by doing so, to step into a new awareness of it and experience its next dimension, time freedom. But we cannot just look with our eyes and understand with our mind, we must experience it with all the facets of our being; with all our senses, with our perceptions, our feelings, and our heart. Timeshifting is the method for doing this, and how you can learn timeshifting is what this breakthrough book is about.
In Timeshifting, Stephan Rechtschaffen teaches us that time is subjective, not objective, and that we can take back control of our lives by changing the way we think about time. We can relearn how to live our lives to their fullest potential; to have the time to enjoy ourselves, our families, and our jobs. Timeshifting is not about time management; it won't teach you how to do more in a shorter period of time. It will, however, give you back all the time you need to accomplish what you want, and you'll find that you are more relaxed, less stressed-out, and better able to enjoy the best things in life.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
Citing applications ranging from the intensely private to the comprehensively social, Rechtschaffen advocates a refocusing of our attention on the present. Describing the rushed and future-focused schedules characteristic of modern life as a condition of 'time poverty,' he suggests that active time awareness ('not time management') offers a path into a richer experience of daily life. From a philosophical position that owes much to Buddhism, the author offers concrete steps to taking back the power we have given to clocks and calendars. 'Time- shifting' requires two steps: becoming aware of the present and practicing tuning in to the rhythm and flow of the moment.Rechtschaffen cites ritual as a powerful means of shifting rhythm, and suggests ways to incorporate timeshifting rituals into everyday existence. Nuggets of wisdom and of practical advice add texture to this overview, which concludes with a vision of a political 'time movement' based on the ideas of such thinkers as Jeremy Rifkin, Joanna Macy and physician Larry Dossey.
Kirkus Reviews
Yet another book teaching busy Americans how to slow down and savor the moment.Rechtschaffen, a founder of the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, offers a series of lessons in mindfulness. The busier we are, he advises, the more we need to take time off, practice random acts of purposeless fun, or listen to Mozart, rather than let ourselves be frantically driven through our precious existence by society's deadly time fixation. A pivotal concept for Rechtschaffen is that different moments and situations have their own distinct time rhythms. Time- shifting is thus the art of adjusting ('entraining') to the unique rhythm of each new event, so that we can truly experience it and be fully present in the moment.Rechtschaffen, who counts Thomas Moore, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Ram Dass among his spiritual teachers, offers a series of practical rituals to facilitate these shifts, including breathing exercises and meditation. In the second half of the book, Rechtschaffen applies these exercies to such areas as self-care, relationships, sports, health, the raising of children, and aging. He finds much to criticize about our distracted, workaholic society, and argues, drawing on his travels, that we need to pay greater attention to the very different approach to time found in many traditional societies. Few would dispute the truth of much of this. But as he reels off his this-is-how-it-is anecdotes and trite statements ('Paradise is where you are right now,' 'Relationships based on sex are bound to fail if we're bent on conquering the object of our love'), Rechtschaffen's facile, often preachy style reduces his truths to truisms.