Concepts of time – What is time, really?
Two people who are taking the same plane trip can have very different experiences. One might report that time just flew by and the other that it took ages. In the moment of an accident all of a sudden time slows down and seconds seem like minutes for the person to make the right decisions. When we get a tooth pulled, we think it takes forever.
Remember when you took an hour to cook a meal. Now you go crazy waiting for a quick microwave dish. For a child a month is a very, very long time and birthdays are very far apart. Now, birthdays come sooner. Waiting in line for the movies may be just a few minutes can seem like forever. Time and speed can be experienced in such astoundingly different ways that the question remains: What is the reality about the phenomenon of time?
Perceptual distortions of time
Depending on our perception some experiences take too long and some too short. Some examples:
Someone experiencing what is called depression is good at pulling up and prolonging negative past memories in a particular way, and they have usually a very slow inner movie running. If you would speed up the same experience it could not be that depressing anymore.
In a psychotic fit a person goes through this excruciating state for perhaps half a day – coming out completely exhausted – but thinking it was only an hour. If the experience went slowly it would not be considered a psychotic fit. Or: Movie watchers having a range of terrible feelings watching a long horror film afterwards think it went by rapidly. Time flies even if it isn’t fun.
The externalization of time
The ways we think and speak about time assume that it is something outside of us. We externalize time by the mere fact of verbalization and this suggests that there is something different than the moment. Time becomes something one can organize, manage, control and quantify. Here the resulting language “Where did the time go? I am wasting time. Time disappears. Let me save some time. This is a fast month. What a long day.” Thinking about this, isn’t it an odd way of coding time?
The brain’s role in time perception
A big portion of being unhappy or not achieving what we want has to do with the ways the brain distorts time. People who experience stress or unhappiness seem to codify time and speed in fixed and limited ways. Time is a mere matter of interpretation. It is a byproduct of the way we manage or not manage our thoughts.
Intentional time distortion as a tool
How does our brain produce these interpretations and how does it sort time? How can we use the same process of distortion to prolong what we wish to enjoy more and shorten what we don’t need to dwell on?
Distorting time intentionally is an amazing tool that can help to be on top of one’s own experiences. It can help manage life and creating greater contentment, organization and so relaxation and happiness.
Case study: Milton Erickson’s time distortion technique
Milton Erickson, the father of hypnosis, successfully applied “The Milton Diet” for weight loss. He brought the client into a trance and instructed to the unconscious mind to use the eating utensils in an extended slow motion fashion. It would take several hours to eat a bowl of soup. Whenever the person touched the spoon or fork the suggested time distortion kicked in. People applying this technique lost all the weight they wanted.
Practical application in daily life
I had a client who couldn’t get herself motivated to go to work but was determined to do so. She had already used motivation strategies like transforming her procrastination behavior. She said she would feel motivated but still wasn’t able to act it out at work. When she was at her desk she thought of her kids, looked around and dreamed, then got up to make some coffee.
I asked her: “What happens in terms of time? It seems like you have a lot of time.” She said it wouldn’t take her long to organize the file folders. It would also not take her long to make the required phone calls. She said that even writing letters is actually a quick thing.
She thought of time in pieces, the time for calling, the time of organizing the desk, etc. Focusing on the time of one task makes work longer. After we had found out exactly how her mind represents time increments, I taught her how to think of time in a more workable way.
I had her make one big picture of the whole day as one chunk rather than many small and stacked ones. Thereafter I asked her to see time in a linear manner. Then she practiced looking at her successful end result and link this experience back to the present. Going back to her work situation she not only felt happier and more motivated but finally could get her tasks done. In a one-hour session this life issue was transformed. She said she now looks forward to working and gets all projects done pretty much on time.
Conclusion: Leveraging time perception for efficiency
What happens inside when we procrastinate or experience stress or anxiety? The duality of our thought process usually makes two or more pictures of different time increments in the same space, maybe on top of each other, stacked behind one another or lined up. Sometimes these images collapse or literally merge. The unconscious message to the brain is: All of these past and future events or tasks happen simultaneously as if now. Our brain can be fabulous, offering highest levels of intelligence – it is also the same brain that creates detriments and sufferings especially according to the coding of time. This inner imagining makes it possible to create the illusion of a large amount of pictures of future situations that should occur but have not yet. Of course, this creates overwhelm and tension.
I suggest to consciously create resourceful inner programs about time. I created the “Time Matrix” upon lots of studies and learnings from many teachers with special gratitude to Christina Hall, my mentor and trainer. Here a little taste of the “Time Matrix” method:
The Time Matrix
Think about some project that is stressing you, but you need to get it done. (= x) (x = getting the housework done, completing a degree, overcoming a challenge, finishing a project, etc.). Notice the sensation of stress and overwhelm and congratulate yourself for this Contemplate about your higher values according to this project and what it is related to in a bigger way. Formulate at least five sentences that bring these values into action for your desired future. I suggest to spend at least a full hour or longer doing this, as it is important and your purpose statement should “buzz” or touch you. Would you now please connect with this purpose for wanting and doing x.
Then connect with the present moment by filling in the progressions. Realize all the time you do have between now and that future moment. Notice how all the “stepping stone experiences” that you can call “time increments” are connected in a continuous and flowing fashion.
From the future, a further destination, holding your purpose, look back to the present moment and ask yourself: “What have I been doing to accomplish x?” When you have answered this question sufficiently bring all of the answers back into the present moment while still holding your purpose. Then step backwards into each time increment before from the future backwards while you hold the experience of the furthest destination. Embrace the experience that you a bringing the already incarnated future into each time increment until the present moment. When done correctly this should be a joyous and rejuvenating experience.
Ask yourself: “What am I looking forward to doing next?”
The purpose of working with the ways your brain codes time is to become more efficient and create time for what you really want. A major focus is to become more flexible and access a variety of ways to think about time differently, so you are more free and in control of your life. And last but not the least, it all prepares and leads back to the ability to be and stay in what is called “The Now”.
Being successful at altering your perception of time is just like working out at the gym. Creating and manifesting new neuropathways takes practice, perseverance and dedication. Allow patience and practice to download this and get to the experience of time does not have you, but you are on top of your time!
