Creating Time
Time. That thing that we keep very close track of using our clocks, calendars, and planners. Measured in seconds, minutes, and hours.
Time is something that seems extremely quantifiable. But our perception of it can change immensely depending on the situation we find ourselves in.
When I’m in a creative flow state I seem to lose all sense of time. Three hours can somehow feel like only ten minutes.
I used to think that this warped sense of time was just a side effect of flow state. Recently I’ve been wondering whether lacking awareness of time is actually essential for tapping into creativity. That it allows me to break free from my rational brain and let intuition take the reins.
So I did a little research about time.
Turns out, the ancient Greeks were ahead of their time (pun intended) when it comes to understanding time. They had two different words to describe different experiences of time.
One of these words was ‘Chronos’ (which we use in words like chronological). Chronos is quantitative and refers to linear, sequential time.
The other (much more interesting) word is ‘Kairos’. Kairos is qualitative; it dances back and forth and knows no boundaries. Rather than measuring seconds and hours, it measures moments.
Both Chronos and Kairos were gods in ancient Greece, and I think their stories describe the different concepts of time beautifully.
Chronos was the source of life and death. He devoured his own children to prevent them from replacing him as lord of the universe. Kairos was the god of lucky chance, dancing on a knife’s edge holding the scales of fate. Whereas Chronos devours us with brute force and unwavering certainty, Kairos is full of novelty and serendipity.
For me, coming up with original ideas and spontaneously connecting seemingly unrelated things is what creativity is all about! So how can we bring more Kairos into our creative practice, and perhaps other areas of life?
Well, this is something I’m currently playing around with. One (probably obvious) strategy is to put the clocks away. I’ve noticed that if I need to be aware of the time I really struggle to get creative, and often give up. So I’m trying out setting an alarm in another room where I can’t see the time, but also know that I’m not going to miss an appointment or be incredibly late for work.
The other thing I’m trying is to stop scheduling creativity. There’s so much advice out there about putting things on your calendar and setting a regular time or chunk of time to create. I guess this works for some people, but I have never found that very motivating or sustainable. I rebel against restrictive schedules and often wonder whether that’s why it can be so hard for creative people to work in very structured environments.
Do you have any other ideas for allowing more Kairos into your life? Feel free to get in touch, I’d love to hear your thoughts!