Sacrosanct: regarded as too important or valuable to be interfered with
The term sacrosanct has come up a few times for me of late in talking to clients when they have talked about the value of making time for them to think. In one case, a client is very focussed on their fitness and makes time during the week that they do not shift for any reason so as to go to their favourite “temple of fitness” (my words, not theirs). They keep that time sacrosanct, and inviolable, so we were able to make a comparison and help them anchor the value of making similar blocks of time in their diary for thinking.
Typically my clients spend one hour each week talking to me on video calls. It is by design that I ask them to choose a day and time each week that works for them, then we set the appointment in the diary each week for months ahead. Though sometimes they will need to move these meetings, generally they, yes, quickly become sacrosanct to them and they then recognise the value of having that one hour each week to talk to me about whatever they need to focus upon. After that, often the next step is for them to start to look at what other time they wish to regard as sacrosanct, whether that be thinking time, time for exercise or sport, time for whatever they do for their mental wellness, or time with family.
What time do you keep sacrosanct and for what purpose?
Now, one more layer. I am reminded of a blog post I wrote back in August 2022 when I had recently finished chemotherapy, called “Kairos, all time is not the same“. This has deep resonance for me as, since then, I have seen all three of my sons on numerous occasions. For the youngest, he started university quite near to where I live in September. For the other two, who live and work in Cayman, I have been out to Cayman for work three times already this year. My memory turns to my most recent trip, where I landed after a twelve hour flight late on a Friday afternoon and within a couple of hours was standing by a garlic football field in the early hours of the dark Caribbean night watching one of them charge around the pitch playing this sport they have grown to love. I was so, so conscious of the quality of that time.
So, some snippets from that post last year on Kairos time:
The Ancient Greeks talked of two types of time. Chronos, or quantitative time, and Kairos, qualitative time.
if we fill our days with Chronos time, if we are always “too busy”, we will most likely lose the opportunities to experience Kairos time.
I don’t see my sons that often now as they live in Cayman and I am in the UK, but I do now totally feel Kairos time when with them. Most recently one of them visited for a week when I was still on chemo, so I wasn’t up for doing much more than sitting on the sofa chatting. As we talked for hours and hours, I felt and lived every Kairos moment with my son. There was no Chronos time there, nothing to do, nowhere to be, simply to be present for and with each other.
Be aware of when you are on Chronos time and when, no matter how rarely, you are in Kairos time.
Oh, and a practical thought. Kairos time can also be focussed time. Do you put blocks of time for focussed work in your diary each week and make sure it is sacrosanct? (phone on silent and put away, notifications on computer turned off) ? If not, could you do so?
It is with some joy that I re-read that last paragraph and exult in how much more I have seen my sons since I wrote this only nine months ago, and at the same time I promised to myself that I will always seek that time with them is Kairos time (yes, including innumerable lunches as Nando’s where they may ask for that!).