Did you ever notice how time seems to expand and contract depending upon what phase you're experiencing in your life. Sometimes a day is perfect...plenty of time to get things done and plenty of time to relax. On another day, time seems to drag on; you can’t find enough things to occupy your time or nothing seems to be interesting. There are still other times when there are not enough hours in the day to accomplish everything you want to do. This expanding and contracting of time parallels the phases in our lives.

Phase 1, “Go for it,” is the positive part of a life, when you seek to live your dream and, if all goes well, reach a sustainable level of joy, prosperity, success and well-being. This is the phase that most people love the most and believe that it's supposed to last forever or to perpetually keep getting better and better and better. Sooner or later, the excitement of a new job, spouse, home, family or even a hobby wanes, the routines become familiar, and you feel hemmed in by the very experiences you thought would lead to bliss. Instead of feeling happiness, you're now are in the “doldrums.”

Phase 2, “Stuck in the doldrums,” is a down time, an extended feeling of decline, when you’re not happy with your life, but you don’t think you can do much about it. You feel stuck and don't have the energy necessary to do anything about it. You resist change because you don’t know what to do to make things better while at the same time you're defensive and dissatisfied much of the time. You would rather remain unhappy with what you have than risk a trying something new. During this phase you have three choices: stay suck, improve what’s going on in you life or begin a transition towards something new. To feel happier, you need to choose one of the latter two paths otherwise you’ll become comfortable with your discomfort and your life will stay negative and stuck.

Phase 3, “Cocooning,” is a detachment from what wasn’t working, taking an emotional “time out” to heal, reflect, and discover new directions for your life, eventually leading to renewal and revitalization. Phase 3 actually begins in the discomfort of phase 2 but becomes a full-time preoccupations when  you make the choice to let got of your old life. To find a new beginning, there needs to be an ending to the old way to being, doing and believing. When you cocoon, you continue to live and work, although the less energy you give to your various roles, the quicker you'll discover your authentic self. Cocooning has more to do with reestablishing positive feelings about who you are inside and trusting in something beyond yourself (God, Goddess, Universe, Source, Light, etc. whatever name you resonate with)  than with “doing” things. Although cocooning usually takes many months or even years, it leads to an empowering inner renewal of energy, purpose, and hope. You end up with the blueprint for the next stage of your life.

Phase 4, “Getting ready for what's next,” is a time for experimenting, training, and networking, resulting in a birthing of the next stage of your life. This is like being in school again, preparing for your future and counting the days until you're in charge of your own destiny. After a period of trial and error, you determine what you want to be, do and have when you grow up and you're ready to make longer-term commitments. You leave the safety of Phase 4, the school room of life, for the responsibilities of the "real world".

We continuous cycle through the four phases; it's how we grow and evolve. And we can be experiencing multiple phases at the same time. We can be in Phase 3 with our relationships, Phase 1 with our career and Phase 4 with our health. Some phases seem to last longer than others; some seem easier that others. All phases are necessary. The sooner we release judgements about which phases are "good" and which are "bad" the easier we can flow with what's happening in our life. 

The phases that you’re currently in will have much to do with your perception of time. No phase lasts forever, although several of them feel as though they will. No matter where you are, use your time wisely and fully experience each phase and each moment of your life.