The lie of NOT ENOUGH TIME

... and the amazing MARBLE GAME to use on this topic or any other

Photo of multicolored marbles from Nick Fewings on Unsplash

​Want a quicker read? Scroll down for a numbered list of 12 ways to think about time that feel better.

If there’s any detrimental belief that A LOT of people from all walks of life share, at least in American culture and I daresay in most places around the globe, it’s that there’s not enough time. We have more to do that we have time to do it in. Does that even sound right? Is that even possible?

And yet people walk around believing it. Please take a moment to notice the toll this takes on you. It’s going to do something that’s counter to total well-being. Any of this sound familiar?

• You often feel at least an edge of stress or pressure, maybe more
• You walk around with a vague sense of not doing enough
• You have a sense of not being enough, not having sufficient value because of what you don’t do
• You undervalue your contribution
• You imagine others are unhappy with what and how much you’re getting done, or you feel it’s undeserved if they seem fine
• You feel like a fraud, as if getting more done would add legitimacy
• You tense your body; you’re not at ease
• You start a day with a sense of too muchness, and perhaps dread or irritation or discouragement—whatever goes with that for you
• You end your day feeling you didn’t do enough

And more. Any awareness hitting right about now about how absurd it is to give yourself this ongoing experience that’s based on an illusion? IT’S NOT REAL. But the effects of believing it are very real, and they impede so much:

• ease
• joy & fun
• well-being
• taking time to do things you love, to be in nature, to be creative
• feeling great about yourself
• loving what you’re doing, loving what you love
• being open to inspiration (including shortcuts, things you can put down, areas you can allow imperfection, things you could let go or delegate, …)
• loving life
• remembering it’s a journey
• being present for this moment

And more.

Abraham-Hicks has a clarifying and focusing process they call the marble game. It’s really simple and it’s really worth trying.
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​Marbles are your thoughts and beliefs. All the thoughts and beliefs you’ve ever had. We have a lot of those, so in the marble game, you determine which ones you want ACTIVE in this situation. Which beliefs do you want to run the show?

For example, you may have three marbles that say

1. money is scarce
2. it’s hard to come by
3. you’re bad at managing it

You may have three other marbles that say

1. you’ve made such progress in increasing your income
2. you’re managing money better and better
3. you’ve been making good spending choices

Which marbles would you like to have active as you look for a job or start the process of buying a house?

Notice you’re likely to feel bad about yourself and ill-equipped for what’s next if you have the first three active; you’ll feel torn and vacillate between mindsets and the matching emotional states if you have all six active; you’ll feel empowered and curious about what’s possible with the last three active.

So anytime in life that you notice you’re leading with a bad marble or you have a seriously active marble that’s not where you want to stand—like, There’s not enough time for all I need to get done—then play the marble game to consciously choose 12 marbles you want active. I did that on that very topic one morning recently. (See my activated, chosen marbles #1-12 below the illustration.)
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Hand drawing in a sketchbook from Jaya illustrating the process described below

Use the right margin to lay out the problem.

Draw a circle of 12 marbles (same positions as for numbers on the clock).

In the middle of those, draw 2 circles. The first inner circle will contain the succinct version of the problem already written out in the margin: Not enough time for all tasks. Go ahead and put that in before you fill in beliefs next to each marble. Here, you could also just write a one-word statement of how you’re feeling about that margin problem (discouraged, depleted, angry).

Write your 12 statements of more positive, empowering, helpful beliefs you already have (or ones you don’t have to reach too far to get to), the ones you do want to stand in and create from. These go next to the marbles where my squiggly lines are in the illustration.

The second inner circle, you’ll fill in at the very end, when the writing out of 12 marbles you want activated brings you to a new mindset: Tasks & time coexist perfectly. (If you chose to write a single feeling word here as described above, then your new words might be brave, energized, accepting.)

Here are the 12 marbles (things I actually believe, or that aren’t too far out of reach, and that I want to have as my ACTIVE beliefs) that got me from "Not enough time for all tasks" to "Tasks & time coexist perfectly."

1. I live in more power, joy, effectiveness, and efficiency when I don't make myself wrong for how much I get done.
2. I treasure presence and practicing being gracefully in this NOW moment. I always have NOW.
3. I like working relaxed, doing qigong, going into nature, taking most evenings off. All of this is more important to me than getting it all done.
4. I'm getting better & better at putting things down into the powerful realm of the Universal Manager. [Reference to placemat process—I’ll write about that another time.]
5. I love actually believing that the organizing intelligence of the Universe moves things forward when my attention is elsewhere. I love collecting evidence for that.
6. I have all the time I need to do all I need to do. What I don’t get to I must not need to get to because it’s beyond my right capacity.
7. I like remembering I could let go of anything, take it off my plate/list/mind.
8. I'm still at the beginning of the new era [in which I've pared down some commitments] and I'll keep stretching & relaxing into that.
9. I'm guided, and that guidance is brilliant. I know what to do, when, and at what level. I course-correct constantly & trust that. [Note that writing that down taps me back into guidance, which I was beginning to forget about with the sensation of having too much to do, which made me the doer who had to also figure it all out and orchestrate all the parts.]
10. It's OK with me that I won't get everything done today. I'm going to show up to work well, relaxed, in love--and that's enough.
11. I love the magic, the wow, the fun, the laughter. I will not allow things-to-do to keep me from that.
12. Today, all things new, all things possible. Today, I will not sing old, tired refrains.

Hand drawing in a sketchbook from Jaya showing marbles lined up along the left side of the page

Lately, my favorite way to play the Marbles game is to simply draw a marble on the left side of the page and write next to it the belief I have that I want to activate. Then I follow down the page and often onto the next page until I have twelve. Sometimes, I've dropped the number and simply laid out as many marbles as I have time for, or just stop when I feel complete. And ... I love hanging in there for twelve, because I feel so firmly established in the beliefs I want in view and in focus. I feel fully equipped.

I invite you to play with Abraham’s marble game to consciously activate the beliefs you want to live out of—or carry into just one situation that’s coming up.

Love & blessings, Jaya