A Simple, Luxurious Gift to Give Yourself

Creating and preserving your unique Time Sanctuary is the balm to all that ails us in complex times.

In this day and age, it can be hard to justify truly taking time to yourself. Sure there’s “self-care,” which is critical. But a lot of self-care is commodified and performative. Or at minimum, it’s a part of our culture’s to-do-listing of everything. Is taking care of yourself really taking care of yourself if it’s a check box under “do laundry” and “inbox zero”?

Contrast that with this notion of a time sanctuary.

Your time sanctuary can take any form that suits you in your life. An hour every day with no tech and no to-dos. A weekly walk in the woods. Whatever it looks like for you, it’s meant to be a space where all the trappings and distractions of everyday life are not an option.

I like the sanctity of this. Sanctuaries are a refuge from all things. The original reference to this time sanctuary concept positions it as a buffer or respite specifically from work. But I like to expand the sanctuary to be a space in time that is free from whatever habitually occupies my time and my mind.

For me, a time sanctuary can look a lot like self-care practices, but the intention behind it makes all the difference. I was initiated into a Vedic Meditation practice over the summer of 2022, and my twice-daily, twenty-minute meditation is the prime sanctuary for me. Leaving all logistics and strategy behind, it is a de-stressing moment, an effortless pause to my monkey mind and default mode.

What could be your prime “time sanctuary”?