What If You Don’t Have Time To Meditate?

The illusion of time-poverty.

There’s an old Zen proverb which goes roughly as follows:

You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day. Unless you’re too busy. Then you should sit for an hour.

For those of us living with the reality of time poverty, this probably feels like a personal attack. What does a zen monk know about the tribulations of time management anyway? When was the last time they had to juggle a full-time job with childcare? Or a social life? Or the search for a better full-time job? It’s like a millionaire telling someone on minimum-wage that they should diversify their investment portfolio.

I mean sure, technically everybody gets the same 24 hours in a day. But the truth is, we don’t all have the same amount of time. The amount we need to devote to work, study and trying not to die alone varies so wildly, that on the surface it seems crazy to suggest that sitting quietly and emptying your mind is a good use of it.

There is another way to look at it though. Let’s start by thinking about how it feels to be time-poor. Think about all the things you wish you had time to do. Think about how little of your precious time you spend doing things that are actually important to you. Think about that feeling that you’re suffocating under the…