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Throughout history, people tried their best to measure time. From drops of water from a suspended bucket, pendulums, quarts crystals to atomic oscillation; the goal was to divide time into precise "ticks", to accurately measure time in the most consistent manner.
However, when subjected to our experience, time still has a tendency to distort in measure through our perception.
Remember that time that you are so bored, waiting, or maybe anticipating something that excites you, something meaningful to you. These moments seems so slow. They seem like forever. And once that meaningful, engaging moment arrives, it seems to accelerate that it has passed without you even realizing..
We all know this experience. (Probably.)
It seems like a sad reality of life. We just accept it as is.
However, one thing you may or may not have realized, it still have this another property. This happens when in retrospect of our memories.
Say, for example, the same experience that you thought about earlier. When you remember the time that you were on the bored waiting phase, in retrospect, it seems like a blink. It feels like it has passed so quickly. And that meaningful and engaging moment, every detail in it adds to our perception of time spent on it. Though at the moment it felt brief as we lived through, retrospectively, it feels longer.
Now, what does it mean for us?
We know we can häçk our perception of time, and with this knowledge utilized, life may not seem so brief after all. Seneca had this very well put:
But keep in mind, we live in a time where a lot of the things to do seems engaging to us. Some activities make us "happy" but not truly happy.
I am not too sure either.
Just like you, I am just figuring out life.
But here is an idea..
Maybe it will be a good practice moving forward is we ask ourselves, "is this activity going to feel longer retrospectively?"
If yes, maybe, just maybe, these are the things that might be worth doing.
What do you think?
Thank you for reading.
However, when subjected to our experience, time still has a tendency to distort in measure through our perception.
Remember that time that you are so bored, waiting, or maybe anticipating something that excites you, something meaningful to you. These moments seems so slow. They seem like forever. And once that meaningful, engaging moment arrives, it seems to accelerate that it has passed without you even realizing..
We all know this experience. (Probably.)
It seems like a sad reality of life. We just accept it as is.
However, one thing you may or may not have realized, it still have this another property. This happens when in retrospect of our memories.
Say, for example, the same experience that you thought about earlier. When you remember the time that you were on the bored waiting phase, in retrospect, it seems like a blink. It feels like it has passed so quickly. And that meaningful and engaging moment, every detail in it adds to our perception of time spent on it. Though at the moment it felt brief as we lived through, retrospectively, it feels longer.
Now, what does it mean for us?
We know we can häçk our perception of time, and with this knowledge utilized, life may not seem so brief after all. Seneca had this very well put:
But keep in mind, we live in a time where a lot of the things to do seems engaging to us. Some activities make us "happy" but not truly happy.
I am not too sure either.
Just like you, I am just figuring out life.
But here is an idea..
Maybe it will be a good practice moving forward is we ask ourselves, "is this activity going to feel longer retrospectively?"
If yes, maybe, just maybe, these are the things that might be worth doing.
What do you think?
Thank you for reading.
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