Time Spiral Part 1 - The Verbs of Time
- Everyday Clues to How We Experience Life
This morning, while still groggy from dreams I couldn’t remember, my phone lit up with a video — a sunset over the Aegean Sea, sent by my wife from Greece. The sky was a canvas of red and gold. It struck me then, this quiet absurdity: while I lay wrapped in night, someone else was recording the day’s end from a different time zone. As the colours faded on the screen, a curious question took shape: What is time, really? It had been haunting me from the time I returned from my trip to USA. While there, I had to look at my watch, calculate and then make calls. My tonight was someone else’s next day in India already. My watch had gone crazy jumping up and down as I flew through multiple time zones, back and forth. The question came back again. What is time, really? Not the calendar kind or the ticking kind — but the kind we carry inside us. The kind we talk about constantly, without noticing the words we use. Spend time. Make time. Kill time. Waste time. These aren’t just phrases. They’re clues — tiny reflections of how we feel, what we fear, and where we are in the strange, spiraling dance of life.
And then it struck me — maybe the real answer isn’t hidden in physics textbooks or ancient scriptures. Maybe it’s scattered across our everyday language. Look at how we speak about time. Without even realising it, we’re constantly describing time through verbs — through action, emotion, and motion. These verbs don’t just describe how time behaves. They reveal how we behave around time. How we value it. Each verb, a tiny window into our mindset. So I decided to map them out — not scientifically, but curiously. What follows isn’t a grammar lesson. It’s an emotional way of how we humans not just see but live inside time.
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1. Time as a Currency - These verbs treat time like money — a finite currency you either invest wisely or squander. When we Spend time, we give it away in exchange for something: work, love, leisure. We also Save time. This happens when you find a shortcut. You feel efficient and rich in moments. However, we do Waste time. As if you flushed something valuable down the drain and always with regret and guilt. Like making money we also Make Good time. It reflects as if you have mined something precious. A value extraction from time. The satisfaction comes from “getting more done in less time.” It’s often used in travel or project milestones just to say “We’re ahead of schedule.” Time becomes a scorecard here. We’re not just passing through it — we’re winning it.
This is the capitalist model of time: every second is an economic decision. We don’t just live time. We budget it.
2. Time as Motion - These are metaphors of motion — revealing our sense that time is travelling, though we never quite know who’s moving. Making good time finds a place here too. It isn’t just about being of value or fast — it’s about moving well through a stretch of time. It says you’re in sync. Things align. No delays. It feels smooth. And then Time flies which reflects periods of joy, speed and suddenness. And sadly, Time slips away too especially when you feel melancholic or sad due to loss. And have you ever felt time pulling you. Yes, Time drags too when you are either suffering with whatever or due to boredom.
But wait — is time moving, or are we? We humans make it look as if time is the one which has wheels. Maybe “time flies” only when we are soaring. And “time drags” mostly when our shoulders are slumped.
3. Time as Space or Effort - There is a difference in Making Time and Make time. Now we treat time like space or effort — something you create or uncover inside a busy, crowded life. When you want to rearrange your priorities, you Make time or even Find time as if we need to put effort in digging it out from beneath tasks and distractions. Some of us even have to become sculptors when we Carve out time cutting it like stone from a mountain.
This shows how we experience time as something pulled out or stolen from elsewhere. It’s never just there. It must be made. We don’t own time — we go on quests to retrieve it.
4. Time as a Relationship - Here time shifts to a relational model. We see time as a gift, an offering, an act of presence to someone else. You Give time to your old parents as an emotional investment to provide them with attention. We Share time to show companionship, intimacy or maintain connection. And of course we Take time when we seek permission or when we want to slow down. This is especially true when we are healing.
Here, time is not money or space. Time spent with someone including your own self becomes a measure of value, even love. To share time is to say, you matter enough to pause my world for.
5. Time as a Property - These are the clear cases of ownership verbs. Time as property or possession. You Have time when you are in control and you possess the luxury of unhurried moments. We can also Lose time when it disappears in distraction, in sleep or in moments of forgetfulness. We not only lose but we can also Run out of time. They call Lions and Cheetahs as predators but the Apex Predator is the Time clock. Think of words like Deadline (sounds like deathline to me).
6. Time as an Experience - Now time becomes something to be used or endured, something we either stretch or silence. If you Take your time it talks of an unheard of luxury or leisure. The thoughts of mindfulness and relaxation. However, you can even Kill time after dragging it for some more time especially when you have too much of it. And of course like a slow passenger train crossing a sleepy village station you can Pass time, while waiting or just drifting.
Here, you don’t manage time — you sit with it or on it. Sometimes time is the long corridor before the door of life opens or it’s the soft chair in the waiting room of life after the door opens.
7. Time as a Landscape - These are phrases that reveal how we orient ourselves around time. With time we show patience or heal ourselves. And being In time means you just managed before it’s too late. On the other hand being On time means you are aligned and punctual. Of course many of us run Out of time which signifies that the game is over.
Here time is relative to something else - we’re constantly checking if we’re ahead, behind, or just barely in it.
8. Time having Meaning - This is when time expresses judgment or priority. It was Worth the time when the outcome was fulfilling. You may even find Value of time when you are talking of efficiency or depth of activities undertaken. Something all of us at some moment or other always talk about is Quality time. Very clear, not just quantity but undivided presence.
We don’t just spend time. We evaluate it like wine or art or real estate. Some moments feel like hours packed into a second. Others feel like the extra scoop of ice cream we ate and ask ourselves “Was it ….?”
9. Time as an Emotion - There are everyday expressions which sneak in the emotional weight of time and how we experience it, not just manage it. This is where we stop treating time as currency, possession, or relationship… and start treating it like a mood we’re having. Here, time isn’t a number. It’s a vibe.
Having a good time or having a bad time - Here Time becomes an emotional state. You’re not measuring it — you’re feeling it. Good time is when you are fully immersed and engaged and flowing with it. Bad time is when time becomes heavy and you are hyper-aware of every dragging second. When we say we are having a Crazy time it is not you just being emotional. It is about the chaos that has disoriented you. Life becomes a blur of moments which cannot be contained and time is just the casualty in these crazy ’times’ we live in. Here, time gets blamed for what’s actually a tornado of events. It’s our way of saying: “Hey Time, why didn’t you check my schedule?”
There are also times when we say Time just flew. It is a classical quote. As if time was a bird or a rocket. We normally use these in conversations that end too soon. Thinking about our vacations or childhood memories brings this verb into play. But what flew wasn’t time. It was you, immersed in presence, in the Now, unaware of the clock. It is just a code for : I was alive. However, Time stands still usually when we are in awe or in shock. It captures moments when awareness of time is suspended because of emotions. The clock ticks. But you don’t.
Sometimes, time behaves like a spreadsheet while at other times, it dances, weeps, races, or freezes — depending entirely on how we feel. Time may not have a face (or yes, we give it one on the Clock), but it sure knows how to wear a mood.
10. Time as a Mindset - Most of our time-talk reflects scarcity: not enough hours, running late, deadlines looming. Our vocabulary itself reveals our scarcity mindset about time. The moment we are born, we begin running out of time. So we hoard it, fret over it, measure it like it’s gold dust. But when we slip into an abundance mindset, our language around time changes. It becomes softer, expansive, more generous — like there’s enough of it to go around.
Think about Take your time where it is seen as a gift of presence. On the other hand Take time for yourself is about self-care, an inner resource. It is giving yourself permission to pause in the race of life. Give time suggests generosity where you choose to be with someone, without hurry. You’re freely offering it. Investing time is a deliberate, meaningful choice. While spending time can sound transactional, investing joyfully is non-transactional especially when you spend time with someone you love. Having all the time in the world signals abundance and ease. It changes everything. It implies a spacious mind and the accompanying freedom from the tyranny of the clock. Create time or Make time reflects empowerment for what matters. This verb reframes time as malleable, not fixed. You’re not squeezed by time.
I could go on — but maybe now it’s your turn. We treat time as everything except what it probably is. We anthropomorphize it, give it moods and motives, like “the clouds looked angry” or “my car doesn’t want to start today.” We manage it, fear it, try to beat it. We stretch it, chase it, even kill it. And when all else fails and language runs out, we just sigh and say: “Where did the time go?”
So what verbs or phrases do you use with time — knowingly or not? Drop them in the comments. Let’s turn this into a timewell of collective insight — a quiet place from which meaningful moments can be drawn.
Go ahead, waste a little time thinking about time. It might just be the most meaningful thing you do today.
Click to read --------->Time Spiral Part 2 - Blink in a Blink
Excellent ... TIME...is also one of the most powerful warriors ... Time has the power to change circumstances, heal wounds, and bring about solutions that might seem impossible in the moment.
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