You Can Learn This Jedi Mind Trick To Slow Down Time
Don’t let your life speed by like a monkey on a jetski
Do you feel like there’s never enough time? Is your life flying by so fast that the days are blending for you into one big blur?
Maybe you spend your life working from home, and each day is so similar to the last that it becomes one big smear of sameness. You might be losing track of your reason to exist.
You can feel time speeding by like a monkey on a jetski. You are missing out on life, and you know it. This is the opposite of a Jedi life.
When you get to your deathbed, you don’t want to be filled with regrets, wishing you had led a fuller life. You want to know that you spent your hours well. If you rush through the entire thing like a starving teenager smashing a bag of nacho cheese Doritos, then you will regret it big time.
“How did it get so late so soon. It’s night before it’s afternoon. December before it’s June. My goodness, how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” — Dr. Seuss
I used to live like that. But I escaped the race and slowed things back down. And I did it without quitting my job, moving to the beach, or changing anything on the outside.
I changed my mind instead.
You Can’t Get More Time, So Don’t Waste it!
Our lifespans are limited. That’s an unchangeable fact. The average human only lives 25,915 days. That’s it.
No one gets out alive.
So, you need to make the most of what you’re given. It’s your duty to live as fully as you can. If you believe in things like recycling, conservation, and green energy, then start with yourself. Don’t throw your precious hours out the window of your speeding vehicle onto the freeway of life like some garbage tossing loser.
If you’re under 30 and already have this figured out, I salute you. I was dumber than a sack of hammers when I was in my 20’s, and I didn’t clue in until much later.
“To be old and wise, you must first be young and stupid” – unknown
When I hit 40, all I knew was how to get stuff done, keep my bosses happy, and meet deadlines. I drank the company Kool-Aid and worked for someone else.
Head down, ass up. I prided myself on looking ahead and taking care of business. Get the reports in on time. Motivate the workforce. Meet those daily and weekly goals so I would look good in meetings.
All utterly meaningless to my family and my mental and spiritual bottom line.
Weeks Went By Like Days
It felt like time was speeding up.
I guzzled entire years like cans of beer at a tailgate party. The empties were stacking up before I realized what was happening.
I felt like I was waking up in a nightmare of missed opportunities. My kids were growing up, and I was busy messing around with silly meetings and work targets. All I did in those years was make someone else rich. And I volunteered to do it.
I felt trapped. I needed to keep working. I had responsibilities. Mouths to feed, you know? I went to school to do this job. I didn’t want to throw that investment away—sunk cost fallacies.
In the end, I found a way to slow down my own personal time. I didn’t have to quit my job or change industries. The thing that needed changing was internal. My focus was on the wrong stuff. I learned to see what really mattered.
Are You Stuck In The Past?
Why does time slip by like Quicksilver running past the Avengers? Because you aren’t fully present. And if you aren’t all the way here, you’re not making solid memories. So when you look back at today, it’s all a fading dream.
Painful experiences and hurtful actions by others choked my mind like weeds. Most people are trapped like this.
We spend our days worrying about things we did wrong, relationships that went sour, or times that we wish had lasted longer.
Do You Live Only For The Faraway Future?
When we aren’t mumbling to ourselves about yesterday, it’s all about the future: Am I going to be able to pay my bills? Will we travel to Mexico and sit on a beach ever again, or is travel dead forever?
“Life will be so great after I save up a million dollars!”
“Once I finish my degree, I’ll be able to start my life.”
“When I can travel again, then everything will be great.”
Regret for the past. Fear and hope for the future. And just a bare minimum of attention on the present.
The key to slowing your role is to be here now. Not in the past remembering things that have passed. Not in the future planning and worrying. Right here. Right now.
None of us lives in Tomorrowland. If we can’t be peaceful and content here, then we will never be. We never get to tomorrow. It’s always still today.
But how the heck do we learn to stay here?
A Bit of Mindfulness Put Me On The Right Track
Mindfulness lets the past become the past. This life is a journey. Stop looking over your shoulder and look at the path right in front of you. Quit looking ahead to someday and smell some roses.
When I started breathing exercises and meditation, it was 5 minutes every morning after I got up. How could I not be able to spare 5 minutes?
Like a Jedi, I slowly increased the power of my mind.
Every time I managed to breathe and sit, it got easier. I lengthened my “me” time from 5 minutes to 10 minutes. Eventually, I worked my way up to 15 minutes.
When I was having a hard time dealing with stress at work, I found 5 more minutes in the vehicle at lunchtime, out in the parking lot. It calmed me down and saved my sanity.
I started to notice stuff. Things like how I reacted to other workers. What they were wearing. What they ate for lunch. I never consciously noticed these details before. It changed my daytime interactions little by little.
As I consistently showed up and sat every morning, I developed a new relationship with reality—one where I was more present. I was forming memories and thoughts about day-to-day details that just flew by me before.
A Jedi Mind Trick To Slow Down Time
When you pay attention to your interactions with the world, you make deeper, richer memories. You add details to your knowledge of things around you.
Pay attention to life for a change. Before this, you always spent your time in either the past or the future. Be mentally here instead of just a zombie going through the motions while your thoughts are elsewhere.
But How Do You Do It?
I wish I could push a button and give you mindfulness. But you know it doesn’t work like that.
Do you want to slow your roll and get more out of life? Then you need to do some work. It would be best if you choose to slow down. The Jedi do this with meditation, but it doesn’t have to be sitting still like a rock. They also use physical training to become more present and feel the “force” all around them.
Imagine a Jedi knight who was stuck in the past or so worried about tomorrow that she couldn’t stay in the moment. The Sith would cut her down like an easily cuttable thing because she wouldn’t be in the moment. She would be too involved in imagining that delicious roast Porg sandwich she has back on the ship waiting for her, or how her master was too hard on her, or some other not-now moment.
Be more like a Jedi Knight and become more present. Here’s how to get started.
Start Small and Get Your Time Back
The key to this is steady action, preferably daily, in small amounts.
You don’t need to join a monastery in some other country or go on a two-week silent meditation retreat. You don’t need to go to a swamp planet and be tortured by an ancient master who talks in riddles and rides around on your back while you levitate rocks. And you don’t need to fight the Emperor in a showdown to the death.
You don’t even need to meditate. There are plenty of other ways if you find sitting still too boring and impossible for you.
Ways to become more mindful:
- 10 minutes a day of walking meditation can get you there without forcing you to sit still like a rock.
- Do you rush through meals without really tasting them? Try mindful eating.
- Use mindful workouts to get your exercise in with intention.
- Yoga and martial arts — meditation in motion will change your mindset and affect your entire life for the better.
- Mantra meditation is a great way to get into mindfulness.
- Apps like Headspace can hook you up and guide you through the process.
- Join the Temple of The Jedi Order and begin your training to recognize the force that is in all things.
How Mindfulness Saved My Life
There’s a clear line in my head. Before the line, my personal life with my wife and kids is vague and blurry.
After the line, memories sharpen. And there are a lot more of them. Mindfulness gave me back my family.
The slower time moves, the longer I’m above the dirt. I enjoy being alive and am grateful for the chance to contribute. My memory store is deep and rich.
I am no longer in zombie mode. Every single day seems like a very long time. I really love this side effect I get from meditation, and it’s a great motivation for me to continue my practice. It means that all things, good or bad, happen at a slower pace. But every day has things I love to observe and experience.
Bottom Line: Don’t Rush to The End Of Your Life
What’s the panic to get to the wrong side of the dirt?
With a little bit of mindfulness, we can see the little things all around us to be grateful for. In my case, I have a warm house, a loving wife, and a friendly cat. My children are all safe, even though all distant from me now. I see my life, and as it passes slowly, I’m glad.
What are you grateful for? What parts of your life do you enjoy? Slow down and really look at these things. They won’t last forever.
Mindfulness Resources
- The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down: How to Be Calm in a Busy World, by Haemin Sunim
- Little Book of Mindfulness: 10 minutes a day to less stress, more peace, by Patrizia Collard
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