We’ve all experienced those moments that we felt would never end. Those days filled with errands or chores we have been dreading to do and/or putting off for weeks. Or perhaps a day that just seems full of everything that can go wrong. These days seem to last forever; like someone literally stopped the clock or keeps turning back time. Whatever the case, when we are doing things that are not rather pleasant, or that we do not enjoy, time seems to slow down.
On the flipside, we’ve all surely noticed how when we’re doing things that we enjoy, time seems to speed up, like someone pushed the hands on the clock forward. We might feel like we have just arrived on a 5-day vacation, only to find ourselves back in the airport heading home and truly unable to believe 5 days have passed already. Or when we’re hanging out with a friend we haven’t seen in a long time. We might sit down to talk to them and not even realize that 4 hours have passed as in our minds it felt like perhaps one. When we’re fully engaged in something, giving it our full attention and especially if it’s something we have positive emotion behind, the moments seems to rush by.
So…what’s up with that???
This phenomena has boggled the best of brains for so long, that the study of it has been coined “Time Perception” and according to Wikipedia is, “a field of study within psychology and neuroscience that refers to the subjective experience of time, which is measured by someone's own perception of the duration of the indefinite and continuous unfolding of events.”
Many factors play into how our perceptions of events are ultimately formed and thus how time is perceived by us in any given moment. For one, our attitude and mood are greatly involved in our perception of time. If we go into our day with a negative attitude, this has not only a physical effect on our bodies (reaction time, ability to concentrate, etc.), but will ultimately determine how others react to us as well. This will extend out into our perception of events occurring around us and if these events are further perceived as unpleasant, our attitude and judgement of the event only adds to the extent of which the event seems to last literally…FOREVER. Anyone who has ever had a panic attack can most certainly relate to this feeling, I’m sure, as the feeling is as if one single moment of sheer terror has caught onto you with a Kung Fu grip and refuses to let go.
So, how do we make life’s “shitty” moments more tolerable and more importantly, go by faster in time? Well, this may sound like an impossible feat by either learning to enjoy them or at least learn to stay neutral. Now, I’m not saying we need to avoid negative emotions, not at all. That is completely unhealthy to deny anger, annoyance, fear, etc. What I am saying is to not sit with these emotions, but rather see them, feel them through, proactively choose a response, and then let them go/release them. Once we stop allowing outside persons, events, situations that we deem out of our control to have some much power over our moods, we are truly free. Free in the sense that we no longer need to literally suffer through those sales meetings, or while sitting in bumper to bumper traffic, or frozen in terror before meeting a potential new love interest on a blind date. We can instead choose to see our autonomous reactions and change them into proactive responses that work to better us rather than leave us stuck in emotional time loop. We don’t have to force ourselves to put on fake smiles, but rather can at least be neutral; unaffected and truly, once again in the moment.
And regarding our joyous moments, do not hold them so tightly, but rather let them flow freely through your heart and rest forever in your memory. Anything we love should feel loose, not constricted or else we should consider it attachment (as there is fear of loss causing tension). When we release and love freely, time will come back to neutral, it will re-center as we re-center ourselves and begin to show us that the more present we are, the more love we can actually bear witness to. Because when we are anywhere else but in the present moment regarding love relationships, we are most certainly either coming from places of expectation or regret.
Please check out the video below which puts an awesome scientific spin on time and brings in concepts from quantum mechanics to explain the concept of perceptual/subjective time even further.
Check out these other articles on the mind-bending fascination that is time:
Quantum Phase: Time, Parallel Realities and The Brain
12 Real Reasons Why Some People Never Seem to Have Enough Time
Tamara Rant is a Co-Editor/Writer for CLN as well as a Licensed Reiki Master, heart-centered Graphic Designer and a progressive voice in social media activism & awareness. She is an avid lover of all things Quantum Physics and Spirituality. Connect with Tamara by visiting Prana Paws/Healing Hearts Reiki or go to RantDesignMedia.com
Tamara posts new original articles to CLN every Saturday.
