I have learned the secret of controlling time. And I am going to share it with you today. Ironically, I actually stumbled upon this idea about a year ago, but didn’t understand it to the full extent until recently.
First a little background. This post will not be about universal time from a scientific perspective, since I know nothing about that. Rather, I want to focus in on the practical matter of personal time, since it is something I know a little bit (but not much) more about, having experienced it since I was born. However, even here, my perspective comes from experience, and guesses, and nothing scientific, per se.
With that behind us, my point. Time is in our control.
To some extent.
The reason for this is that the sensation of the passing of time, is something that is developed by the conscious mind. It takes a conscious mind that recognizes itself to point to a then and a now and a future, then compare two of the events and create the idea of time.
This can be experienced by the fact that the time when you sleep doesn’t seem like a long time, rather a moment, UNLESS your dream had an aspect of self-consciousness, in which case you can experience the passing of time.
OK, lets bring this back to us a little, and how to control time. The reason that time seems to fly typically, is because, our mind is not being conscious. Rather, it is going into autopilot, due to the fact that it is not needed. While in autopilot, we are in a similar space to when we dream (at least from a recognition of consciousness perspective) and so time flies.
Interestingly, this is probably why as we get older time speeds up, since there are so many fewer new experiences in our life. This is also why when you are going somewhere unfamiliar it seems to take forever, but the return trip is much quicker. It is also why when you sit in a room with nothing to do, times goes so slowly. Since your focus in not consumed.
So the secret to slowing down time, is not to be on autopilot. It’s really that simple. But it’s not.
To stop the autopilot take an conscious effort to experience the world as new. At all times. To do this successfully means using your five senses and then focusing your attention on the input they are receiving, in a real way, not a rote way.
You can try it yourself. Look at something on the wall. Really look at it. See the depth in the color. Feel the color. Experience the color. All of this will make your mind stop it’s autopilot mode, and time will literally slow down.
Or try using any of your other senses, they all can help accomplish the same thing. Add to that the great benefit that you will see by actually getting in touch with your world at a much deeper level, you’ll actually be adding time to your life.
Plus, its not a bad way to experience life, if you ask me.