This week in Her Wildest Life Facebook group we explored the moments when we have felt our deepest connection to nature.

I find that these moments of connection come easily when we allow ourselves the right kind of time to connect to nature.

 But what do I mean by “the right kind of time”?

In 2019, I wrote an article on linked in answering that very question that I will share with you below.

As we move through March I would like to share more about what is known as Kairos time and how we can move into this state of being to bring more connection into our lives.

So What is Kairos time?

(Article taken from my linkedin page. Written in July 2019)

I have recently returned from an immersive weekend on the Falkland Estate in Fife learning about Regenerative Culture Building (RCB) with the Art of Mentoring. I found it so paradigm shifting that a week later I am only just landing back into my life.

At the beginning of the week we were welcomed by Jon Young, the creator of the Art of Mentoring.

Jon has traveled the world combining the wisdom of indigenous cultures to build a framework through which western people can find their own indigenous way of being with their land. During our welcome we learned about Chronos and Kairos time.

What is Chronos time?

Chronos time goes by the clock. It is chronological and linear. For instance, it is dinner time because it is 7pm. The clock says so. A baby was born two weeks late. It’s Monday so I have to go to work. 

I relate Chronos time to the masculine energy, of yang. It is the energy of focus, of ambition and getting things done, achievement and pushing through.

 After all, our Chronos way of looking at time allows for succinct and focussed co-ordination of effort.

It is how businesses run, how we can arrange a moment with a dentist that allows for everyone to be seen on a particular day.

It is useful. 

Yet I would argue that we are over focussed on this method of time management and that this may be keeping us from not only experiencing a deeper connection with our bodies, nature and each other, but potentially damaging the fabric of our existence.

Chronos time goes by the clock. It’s dinner time because the clock says so

What is Kairos time?

Kairos time is not a familiar time in our modern, Western world. In fact there can be much resistance to it. Yet it was Kairos time that I noticed today as I was tending to, and being in close relationship with the land. 

With Kairos time, it is dinner time because my body says it is ready to eat.

 It’s blackberry season because the fruits have ripened and are ready to be picked.

 It’s summer because the days are long and the swallows have returned.

In Kairos it is only time to do something when everything is ready, in its’ own time.

 And there is such a sweetness, a letting go, in that.

This morning, as I went to collect fresh eggs from the chickens, I was thinking ahead to the delicious omelette I was going to have for breakfast. However, when I got to the coop, the chickens had not laid. Not one egg.

If I had been in my Chronos timeset I may have felt frustrated or dismayed as I had decided I was going to eat omelette that morning and now I couldn’t. I might have said unloveable things to the chickens or huffed.

In my struggle to figure out how to get more eggs, I might  have missed the beautiful dragonfly that then landed on the fence beside me.

In Kairos time, it is only time to do something when everything is ready.

 Instead, with a week long experience of being immersed in Kairos time, I shrugged, smiled and got curious.

“I wonder what I AM having for breakfast this morning?”

To me, to live in Kairos time is to live in a state of openness, curiosity, flexibility and wonder. A state deep connection.

There is an intuitiveness, a trust about it. An acceptance and letting go of the need to control.

It is being present in the “what is”, in our bodies, in the world.

It is accepting things for exactly who, what or where they are knowing that everything has its’ own gifts to share if allowed the time and space to do so.

As I checked on the poly tunnel, I lifted the tomatoes one by one. If they were ready they would effortlessly snap off into my hand. I checked a tomato and it gave itself to my touch.

It was the sweetest, juiciest, tastiest tomato I had ever experienced. 

If I had been in Chronos time and decided that I needed 8 tomatoes because we were having a salad tonight, I may have forced some tomatoes off before they were ready.

In doing so, I would have denied myself the taste sensation that only comes when the tomatoes are just right.

In doing so, I would not have done justice to the work of the tomato plant, or myself.

And it would also have taken more of my energy to remove them than the effortlessness of waiting.

Everything has its’ own gifts to share if allowed the time and space to do so.

When I have shared about Kairos time, people have responded defensively.

“Yes well how can you expect to get anything done?” “That’s just not the world we live in”.

What if it is? What if there is space for both? What if we allowed balanced amounts of Chronos and Kairos time in our lives? That balance of yin and yang, masculine and feminine?

As I left the chickens this morning in a state of openness, curiosity and trust about my breakfast, I found some of the last strawberries from the summer and some juicy blackcurrants.

In this open, curious state I had access to my creativity. In Kairos time I could tune into my body and from this very present state, I enjoyed the best breakfast 🙂

When we set time aside to allow ourselves to be in Kairos time, we can find deeper connection, creativity, ease and joy.

Stay tuned as we explore how to create opportunities to allow more Kairos time into our lives.

If you don’t want to miss the upcoming blogs or simply want to join in the conversation about nature connection and meet like-minded women, you are welcome to join our Facebook group;
Her Wildest Life