Part 2: Where Did the Green Time Go?
🇸🇪 Läs på svenska Lev ditt liv – hur svårt kan det vara?
In earlier posts, I have written about red, yellow and green time. This time, I want to pause and focus on green time – that time that is supposed to exist between everything else.
Green time is connected to the green circle, but it is not quite the same thing. This is more about time than feelings. It is about planning small moments of recovery between all the things that need to be done.
For many of us, our days are filled with things that need our attention. Meetings, work, errands, phone calls, cleaning, cooking, family life and all those little tasks that never seem to end.
But between yellow time, when we prepare ourselves, and red time, when we need to perform or be somewhere, there needs to be green time.
What Is Green Time?
Green time is not about doing nothing.
Green time is about giving your brain and body a chance to breathe.
It can be ten minutes with a cup of coffee on the patio.
A walk around the garden.
Sitting on the sofa with a book.
Painting for a while.
Taking a bath.
Or simply sitting quietly and looking out of the window.
It is the time that allows our batteries to recharge a little between everything else.
When Green Time Disappears
The problem is that recovery time is often the first thing to disappear.
We plan the meeting.
We plan the shopping.
We plan the celebration.
We plan the trip.
But we rarely plan recovery.
Instead, we fill every empty space with something more.
”I’ll just…”
Just make a phone call.
Just pull a few weeds.
Just finish that task.
Just do one more thing.
And another.
And another.
Eventually, we find ourselves sitting on the sofa completely exhausted. The battery is empty. Nothing feels enjoyable anymore, not even the things that usually give us energy.
When Real Life Makes Green Time Scarce
At the same time, we need to be honest.
Life does not always look like it does in self-help books.
Sometimes there are small children.
Sometimes there is illness.
Sometimes there is financial stress.
Sometimes there is work, family responsibilities or worries that cannot be put on hold.
Then green time becomes scarce.
But perhaps that is exactly when we need it the most.
Those moments of recovery is not about finding an entire free afternoon.
Perhaps it is about five minutes.
Perhaps it is about pausing before the next thing begins.
Giving yourself a small space to breathe.
My Thoughts
I do not think most of us break because of the big things.
I think we become tired because we never get the spaces in between.
We move from yellow to red.
From red to yellow.
Again and again.
And eventually we wonder why we no longer have the energy.
Perhaps the question is not what we should do more of.
Perhaps the question is:
Where did the time go?
I can only look at myself and my own green time when I get caught up in things.
A 60th birthday celebration.
Preparations.
The garden.
The blog.
Meetings.
A cold.
When did we stop planning green time first?
Many people plan:
the meeting,
the shopping,
the celebration,
the cleaning.
But not:
the rest beforehand,
the rest afterwards,
the recovery in between.
Why We Need More Green Time
I want us to start planning green time.
I want to show what it is, how it can be created and why it matters so much.
Because green time is not about making huge changes in life. It is about finding small spaces.
The time on the way somewhere.
The time between two tasks.
The time between shutting down the computer and starting dinner.
It can be noticing how it feels to walk from one room to another.
Paying attention to the taste of that first sip of coffee in the morning.
Feeling the water against your skin when you step into the lake for a swim, or into the shower.
Or the feeling after a long day on your feet when you finally sink into the sofa.
That is where it is.
The green time.
The green feeling.
Sometimes it lasts only a few seconds.
Sometimes a few minutes.
It can also appear when you listen to an audiobook and disappear into a story for a while.
When you sit in the garden watching the wind move through the plants.
When you listen to the silence without even thinking about it.
The strange thing is that green time is often already there.
The problem is not always that we lack it.
The problem is that we rush past it without noticing.
Perhaps green time does not begin by creating more time.
Perhaps it begins by discovering the time that already exists.
Sometimes Green Time Needs to Be Planned
At the same time, I do not think it is enough just to know that green time exists.
Sometimes we need to schedule it.
Many of us have lived in constant doing for so long that we no longer notice the spaces between things. We move from task to task, from responsibility to responsibility, from day to day without stopping.
That is why I believe we need to practise.
Not practise doing more.
But practise noticing what is already there.
At first, small reminders can help.
A note on the refrigerator.
A note beside the coffee maker.
A reminder on your phone.
Not to add another demand to life, but to help us notice those green moments.
”Taste the coffee.”
”Take three breaths.”
”Pause for one minute.”
”Notice how the chair feels beneath you.”
”Feel the water against your skin.”
Small reminders to be where we already are.
After a while, perhaps the reminders are no longer needed.
Then green time has started to move into everyday life.
Then it becomes something we do without thinking about it.
We taste the coffee.
We notice the wind against our face.
We pause between two tasks.
We allow our bodies to catch up with our minds.
Like so many things in life, it begins with practice.
Not to become perfect.
But to give ourselves more green moments to live in.
🌱 Would You Like a Little Help Along the Way?
If this way of thinking feels interesting, I have created a workbook about green time.
It actually started with my model of green, yellow and red time. Over time I noticed that many questions were not about understanding the model itself, but about how to use it in everyday life.
How do we find green time?
How do we practise slowing down?
How do we notice recovery before the battery is empty?
That is why I created this workbook.
It contains reminder cards, reflection sheets and small exercises designed to help you discover the green moments that already exist in your life.
🌿 Package Offer
Introduction Guide: Green, Yellow and Red Time
11 pages – SEK 59
Green Time – Reminder Cards and Workbook
27 pages – SEK 59
Package Price: SEK 99
Would you like to purchase the material?
Send your payment via PayPal.
Please include your email address in the message field.
I will send the PDF file to you as soon as possible.
Questions?
Contact me at:
A Question for You
What did your green time look like today?
If you did not have any green time today, where could you find a small moment before you fall asleep tonight?
Evening Reflection – Green Time
Did I have any green time today?
When did I feel calm?
When did I breathe a little more freely?
What would I like to do more of tomorrow?
And if the answer is:
Not once.
Then I want you to be honest with yourself.
Do not search for something that was not there.
Do not tell yourself that you had green time if you really did not.
This is not about being good enough.
It is about noticing what your life actually looks like.
If the day was too full, then it was too full.
If you spent the whole day running, then you spent the whole day running.
That is okay.
But if you realise that you had no green time at all, there is still one possibility left.
Take two minutes before you fall asleep.
Feel the pillow supporting your head.
Feel the blanket resting over your body.
Notice that the day is finally over.
Breathe.
Right there.
In that moment.
You can create a small green space.
Because it is never too late to give yourself a few seconds of recovery.
Not even when the lights are off and your eyes are almost closed.
And perhaps the most important lesson is not that we always succeed in finding green time.
Perhaps the most important lesson is that we begin to notice when we do not.
Reflection
Sometimes we believe that recovery is something that should happen once everything else is finished.
But life is rarely finished.
The dishes remain.
The weeds keep growing.
The calendar fills up again.
Perhaps green time is not something we earn when everything is done.
Perhaps it is something we need in order to handle what comes next.
Today I am thinking about where my own green time exists. Maybe I will find it in a cup of coffee, in the garden or in a few minutes of stillness before the day begins.
Your Question
What does your green time look like right now?
AHA – Between the Lines
Between the lines, this is not really about time.
It is about permission.
Permission to pause.
Permission not to be productive every minute.
Permission to be human.
I think many of us have learned how to plan work, meetings and responsibilities. Very few of us have learned how to plan recovery.
Perhaps that is why we sometimes feel tired without understanding why.
Green time is not another thing to achieve.
It is a reminder that life also exists in the spaces between things.
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Yesterday has already come to rest in history. Tomorrow is waiting somewhere ahead. But right now – this is where life happens.
— Carina Ikonen Nilsson
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