Living Life in Fast Forward? Here’s the Pause Button
No Batteries Required
Have you ever wondered why the first week goes slowly when you go on holiday, but the second week flies by?
Have you reached an age where Christmas comes around quickly, in stark contrast to when you were a child?
There is a reason for this, and when you know what it is, you can use your new knowledge and live longer. OK, not longer in terms of birthdays, but you will know how to stretch time so you feel as if you have lived longer.
You will be able to make the second half of your holiday unfold as slowly as the first. You will be able to press the pause button and slow your life down.
Our brains are like skilled weavers, laying down threads of memories into intricate networks. Imagine a colourful woven quilt where a thread represents each new experience.
When something novel comes along, it sparks a flurry of activity. Neurons fire and create unique patterns that represent the experience itself. The quilt gets bigger.
But what if something isn’t a new memory — but rather a repeat of something you have already experienced? The brain lays it OVER the existing memory, and the thread stays the same length.
Our perception of time is influenced by memory.
A child’s life is full of new experiences, so its quilt is growing exponentially. The brain is laying down lots of new memories, and thus, time stretches.
Older people experiencing fewer new events are not increasing the size of the quilt. Everything they do is blended in with existing memories, and their perception of time is shortened.
Let’s go back to that two-week holiday. The first week is full of new experiences: the bed you sleep in, the sights you see, the food you eat, the people you meet. But if you stay in the same place for your second week, most of your experiences will no longer be new. Your perception of time will speed up because the memories are being laid over ones that already exist.
If you always go on holiday to the same place every year, you will, in old age, find it impossible to separate each holiday into a distinctly separate memory. Your life will seem shorter than if you had holidayed in a different place each year and collected more distinct memories.
To stretch time, you need to be having as many new experiences as possible. This can range from the simple:
- take a different route to work
- go to a different supermarket
- buy something you have never eaten before
- visit somewhere nearby you have never been to before
- spend five minutes watching a snail and be present in the moment
to the more adventurous:
- deliberately seek out new experiences that you know will trigger your emotions — do something that frightens you. Public speaking?
- move house, move jobs, move countries
- learn a new skill
- travel to as many different places as you can
Take a minute to remember what you were doing yesterday between 9 am and 9.04 am. Will you remember that time when you are on your deathbed?
I did a parachute jump once. It was before they had invented those snazzy ones you can control. It lasted 3 or 4 minutes and scared the living daylights out of me. I was on a high for months afterwards. My memory of it is so strong that I can recall it easily. Because here’s the thing. Positive and negative emotions play a crucial role in memory. If an experience triggers joy, excitement, or (especially) fear, the brain strengthens the connections.
Our remembering self tends to focus on significant events and emotional peaks. So, feel the fear and do it anyway. Embrace change. Decide now that you will do something you have always been afraid to do.
You may just thank me on your deathbed.
Source: Why our sense of time speeds up as we age — and how to slow it down (nbcnews.com)
