It often depends on our current situation and the meaning we attach to those circumstances. Many of us have a love - hate relationship with the concept of time. We strive to save it and we kill it. We have all the time in the world and we never have enough. We're either behind it trying to catch up, ahead of it trying to slow down or if we're lucky, in that blissful, hard to achieve 'on time' space. We put a lot of pressure on those 1440 minutes each day.

Time is at the center of how we experience life. How we organize, strategize, accomplish and measure. We actively construct our experience of time in our own minds. As babies, we live solely in the present moment. As toddlers, we develop a sense of self and begin to grasp the concepts of before and after. As we continue to mature, our perception of time is refined with our complex processes of memory, emotion, concentration and spatial awareness.

Memory plays an essential role. When time seems to be passing quickly, it is often because life is full and we are actively creating new memories. Conversely, when we are sad or bored, we are usually less active, not creating new memories and time seems to drag.

How we think and feel about time is also affected by whether we operate with a scarcity or abundance mindset. "Time famine", first coined in 1999 by researcher Leslie Perlow, is the feeling that we do not have enough time for all that we have to do. It crosses all economic strata and is directly linked to increased stress, anxiety and poor sleep. When we have time poverty, we are less happy, less productive and less connected with the people who matter to us.

Strangely, many of our time saving strategies leave us feeling more rushed. We may create more space, but do we fill it with something we really enjoy? Too often, our fear or guilt of having any unused capacity leads us to overbook. We tend to associate being busy with importance. We erroneously think we'll have more time in the future, but the future comes and we find we don't. We think fast, talk fast, act fast, multitask and often develop "hurry sickness" - a mixture of anxiety and constant sense of urgency.

Our culture rewards time famine - who works the longest hours? Sleeps the least? In other words, who is suffering the most? And even though research has shown that once people make more than enough to meet their basic needs, additional money does not reliably promote greater happiness, the majority of people continue to choose money over time. Ashley Whillans, a Harvard professor and happiness researcher, has published a multitude of data to explain and challenge this phenomenon.

Check out her Tedx Talk: Ashley Whillans: A Simple Strategy for Happiness

Time affluence is the feeling that we have sufficient time. It's not only about having minutes, it's also about how we use those minutes. Time affluence gives us the freedom to create white space during our day. It allows us to relax, to savor, to connect to who and what is important, and it promotes the flow of our creative juices.

Research confirms that when we give our time to others in a way that is meaningful, such as volunteering, it adds to time affluence. We tend to feel confident, capable and more in control of our time when we are intentionally giving it away. This self-efficacy makes us feel that time is more expansive.

Research also shows that active leisure time (socializing, moving, volunteering, creating) is far better at reducing stress than passive leisure time (tv, gaming, doing nothing). When we actively engage in new experiences, we create new memories which in turn lengthens our sense of time.

Time affluence creates a sense of abundance. When we are in this state, we are more generous, more grateful and more patient.