Since selling my home in September, I’ve lived without a home, moving around from one place to another. In most cases, I’ve left one place knowing where I was heading next. But not always.

I was staying with a friend in Malibu. I didn’t realize before I arrived that she was putting her house on the market for rent. I also didn’t realize that Malibu is the type of place where you need a car to cross the street, which doesn’t really work for me.

I had been looking to move to a place in Santa Monica, which was my ideal location. But I had resolved to stick it out through the weekend.

Suddenly, my plans got shaken up.

On Friday night, as I was leaving a friend’s home in Los Angeles after Passover Seder, I saw I had received a message from my friend.

My realtor just called. We have to clear out of the house ASAP tomorrow.

It was almost midnight and I still had a 45-minute ride back to Malibu. I didn’t know what time I had to be out the next day.

This felt like the worst timing.

My Exodus Experience

Of course, the first night of Passover was perfect timing for this.

Because this is the very thing we celebrate on Passover.

The Jews left Egypt on a moment’s notice without knowing where they were going. It all happened so fast that they didn’t have time for the dough to rise. That’s why we eat matzah for eight days.

The point of the Seder is to feel what our ancestors felt.

It was the middle of the night. I had to leave and I had nowhere to go.

I was feeling it.

Origins of Our Beliefs About Time

One would think that an all-knowing God who knows the future would have given Moses some advanced warning so he could tell the Jews to prepare: start baking their bread earlier, pack up and get ready. But that’s not how it played out.

Instead, it was all a big rush.

Not enough time for the dough to rise.

How often do you hear yourself say you don’t have enough time for something?

The belief about lack of time — No time or not enough time — is one of the most deeply embedded beliefs that many of us carry.

How We Reinforce Beliefs About Time

It can feel impossible to eradicate this belief. And suddenly I understood why this is.

There are two central commandments of Passover: to tell the story of the Exodus and to eat matzah.

We spend eight whole days eating matzah, integrating into our nervous systems and our bodies the conditions of the Exodus so that we won’t forget what happened.

That’s a lot of time to spend reinforcing the belief that we don’t have enough time.

Plus, it’s the dominant mantra of our current culture:

Too busy.
Not enough time.

We constantly reinforce this belief.

Shifting My Beliefs About Time

I returned to Malibu at almost 1 am. I made some inquiries on AirBnB and finally crashed at 2:30 am.

When my alarm went off at 6:30 am, I woke up and immediately felt the physical feelings of not enough time.

A tightness in my chest. Stomach doing flips. My left hip flexor on fire.

My nervous system was in fight or flight mode. My mind was taking those signals and telling me a story:

You don’t have time to workout. You don’t have time to meditate. Pack up your stuff. Get online and find a place to stay. There’s not enough time.

I used to listen to those stories and follow their guidance. I would jump out of bed and immediately check email or social media or respond to calls. Then I stopped doing that. For over five years, I have started every day with a workout. I have had a daily meditation practice for over 3 years.

People often mistake these for habits. But they are not habits. They are rituals I created in part to recondition my beliefs around time.

Reconditioning Beliefs About Time

It’s not that I don’t hear the stories of not enough time; it’s that I’ve spent years conditioning my mind to ignore those stories by acting on my priorities.

I condition my belief that I always have time for a workout and meditation so that it will be stronger than my belief that I don’t have enough time.

This is a daily practice.

The beliefs we hold about time are insidious. If not constantly abated, they will grow back like weeds.

Practice in Game-Time Conditions

Competitive athletes will tell you that the best way to train is in conditions that evoke game-time conditions. Michael Phelps won an Olympic race even though his goggles broke midway through. He said after that his coach had made him practice with broken goggles so that he would be prepared if that happened.

I take the same approach to conditioning my rituals — for example, I practice meditation in the gym so I can find calm amidst the chaos.

This works for conditioning — or reconditioning — beliefs. Especially the sticky ones like not enough time.

Attacking at the Foundation

If I could shift this belief under circumstances that evoke those that created the belief in the first place, then I can damage the belief at its foundation, rather than just knocking down the building.

My mind was telling me a powerful story:

You’ve got to pack up and get out. This is the Exodus. There’s no time for the dough to rise. There’s no time for a workout.

This was the moment I had prepared for. Game-time condition. This is where years of practice paid off in a big way.

Conditioning New Beliefs

I exercised a muscle that I condition every day — the skill of creating time.

That practice of creating time — creating space — helps me condition new beliefs about time:

I always have time for what’s most important. I always have time for a workout and to meditate. These practices give me time.

Body and mind work together. The mindset and the physical practice are inextricably linked in a constant feedback loop.

As my mind told me the story of not enough time, my body walked to the gym, where I did a workout. Then I sat for meditation. That’s what I do.

I even created time to speak with a man at the gym who asked me about my meditation practice.

When I returned to the house, I took my time to shower and pack up without rushing.

And then, in the tradition of my ancestors, I left my accommodations without knowing my next destination. I trusted that it would all work out. And it did.

As it turned out, I had plenty of time.