Daily Living

HealthType Hacks: Where We Are in Time

Each Health Type has a natural focus in time - past/present/future. Tension comes when our minds fixate too much on how we perceive experiences in that time.

Natalie Howard Natalie Howard
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If listening / viewing is more your style, click here to watch my overview lesson on the HealthTypes in Time.

Have you ever wished for more time? If you’re human, odds are you have 😉

While we all have the wish for more time – we don’t actually all experience it the same way. Just as we all manage our time differently, we actually see time differently.

Each Health Type has a different awareness and experience of time. This is what translates into our differences in how we choose to spend or use our time. It also shows in our perceptions (and judgements!) of how we think others spend (or ‘waste’) their time.

In this article I get pretty philosophical about the big things, like the meaning of time, how we process it, and the mind body connection. (#sensor) 

If exploring the why isn’t your thing, awesome, quick links for the “what to actually do” are here:

Activators & Connectors – cut to the chase here

Crusaders & Sensors – key points here. (Sensors will probably prefer to read all the details below first.)

Diplomats & Guardians, for your personal guidance click here. However, you might enjoy reading on to ease into the deeper discussion first.

We talk about being “time pressured.” And that’s exactly it. Time is pressure. The pressure we feel to have “enough’’, have it “again” or have it “all now.” We even refer to time in tenses – past, present, future. Time is tension. It’s how we experience the tension and sense pressure that is different.

Our experience of time is linked to our feelings of tension or pressure. The more focused we are on ‘time’, the more pressure we feel. Feeling like there’s “no time” to do all the endless things our minds are telling us we have to do. Or feeling like we’ll have to wait “forever” until things get better. Equally, the more pressure or tension we feel in an experience, the more aware we become of time. That’s the feeling of time dragging on when we’re doing something we don’t like, making minutes feel like hours. It isn’t just negative pressure that warps our experience of time – it can be “positive pressure,” like the intensity of excitement. That’s the feeling that time has “flown by while you were having fun.” But now that it’s over, you’re thinking about the time, so the pressure is turning negative again as you’re thinking about what you missed, what still needs doing, or how that wonderful experience is over and ‘gone’ now.

When we are free from tension and pressure, and completely relaxed, we all experience time in a very similar way – we don’t really notice it. We’re not concerned about the time, we’re just content with whatever it is we’re experiencing in that moment. This is the feeling we are seeking when we are trying to be mindful. We are trying to switch off our minds from focusing so much on the time.

What brings us contentment is different for each of us, as each Health Type needs different signals to turn off our feelings of tension and pressure and switch on relaxation. So “being in the moment” and “surrendering to the now” is different for each of us.

In order to switch off our tensions around time, we must first be aware of our tendency for how we experience time. When we are aware of this, then we are able to manage our time in a way that frees us from feeling pressure. This allows us to actually stop focusing on the time and find that magic place of being content in our current experience. That’s where we discover that we do in fact have all the time we need.

The mind of each Health Type has a natural focus in time:

Activators and Connectors = present. Most of their tension comes from feelings they are having as reactions to what their minds perceive is, or isn’t, happening to them right now.

Guardians and Diplomats = past. Most of their tension comes from carrying the feelings from past events, which are felt in the now by their minds remembering, replaying and holding onto that past and experiencing it as if it were still happening, or going to keep happening.

Sensors and Crusaders = future. Their tensions come from the feelings of their predicted future, which are felt in the now by reacting to those future predictions, both positive and negative, as if they are already occurring, and they all need to be responded to / managed / solved right now.

The key distinction is between the experience of our mind and body. The body is always in the now, and the body is where we hold, experience and express emotion. The body takes what is passing through the mind (thoughts) and interprets it as happening right now. It is our mind that moves between tenses of time.

So even if our mind is naturally ‘present focused’, like with Activators & Connectors, it is still our mind, so it is still one step removed from the full present. Just being mentally reactive to our perception of the present is not being “fully present.” Full presence comes through the mental space that we create between reaction and intentional response, when we pause, consider, and choose how to act, which we then experience and express through our body.

This is not to say we don’t all focus on all aspects of time, and experience a whole spectrum of feelings around them all. This is just the dominant tendency of the mind of each type, created by their natural neurobiology (more on the hormones that affect this in the HT specific articles.) It is not our tendency that creates the tension – the tension comes from our minds fixating too much on the perceived experiences and events of the past/present/future, which creates feelings of tension in us.

None is better or worse than another, they are just different ways of being. When in balance, we are healthy when we do largely function from our natural space. However, spending too much, (dare I say it), time, in the tense that is not our natural tendency, or only staying in our preferred state of time, can create a lot of stress for our minds and bodies. It is a matter of establishing and maintaining the balance so our minds can function in the way that is best for them, while still being flexible and adaptive. Shifting with ease between spaces and times, knowing and being strong in our familiar zone, and being able to step out of it to experience growth, change and discovery.

How do we find that balance? Read my Health Type specific articles.

Activators and Connectors – click here

Crusaders and Sensors – here

Guardians and Diplomats – here

To work 1:1 with Nat, Personalised Communication, Behaviour & Relationships coach, click here.

Want to learn more? Watch the video here. Connect with me and all the content I share on Fb here  or Insta here




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