Can being mindful slow down time?

Tick Tock

Time speeds out of control

Ticking, Ticking, around the clock goes.
We chase the moments to keep

up with time, that just keeps ticking.....

It‘s a race against time.
In the battle it seems the challenge is clear,
to not let the ticking consume our time here.
If the ticking controls us, it can’t be stopped.
Tick Tock .....

Until we drop!

The time just seems to speed by day to day. tick tock tick tock. Another day over a new one begins. Suddenly it is the end of another week, another month, another year.

So why does life seem to speed up as we get older?

There are a few theories about this. As we get older life gets busier, we have more commitments therefore we are busier with all the have to’s and should do’s and when are not doing these things we are usually busy thinking about them.

Another theory is that things around us eventually seem more and more familiar the longer we are alive. We tend to go to similar places, talk to mostly the same people and engage in the same activities. So with all this repetitiveness we begin to overlook observations that used to be wow and get somewhat complacent. This does not necessarily mean that we should aim to be constantly doing something new. This would more than likely lead to a restless kind of quest for constant excitement and adventure.

Can being mindful actually slow down time?

There is an author by the name of Steven Taylor who has written several books on the subject of time. He talks about mindfulness as being the key to slowing down time.

“……we can slow down time is by making a conscious effort to be ‘mindful’ of our experience. There are some people who seem to be as affected by familiarity than others, and see the world with something of the fresh, first-time vision of children all through their lives. ……… They’re the kind of people who might stop in the street to gaze up at a beautiful scene of the sun breaking through clouds or a silver moon above the rooftops; or they might stare intently at the sea, at flowers or at animals, as if they’ve never seen them before. Poets and artists often have this kind of ‘child-like’ vision – in fact it’s this that usually provides the inspiration for their work. They often have a sense of strangeness and wonder about things which most of us take for granted, and feel a need to capture and frame their more intense perceptions.”

As I sit here I can here the sound of the breeze in the palm trees outside, I can see the rippling of the water in the pool. I can feel my wrist on my mouse pad; hear the sound of the notepad keys as I type. Life is always happening all around us, the secret is to pay careful attention to it, be aware, here and now.

“In other words, to some extent we can control time. It doesn't have to speed up as [we] get older. Some of us try to extend our lives by keeping fit and eating healthy food, which is completely sensible. But it's also possible for us to expand time from the inside, by changing the way we experience the moment to moment reality of our lives. We can live for longer not just in terms of years, but also in terms of perception.”

Art: Tick Tock