THE YOUNGEST OF US MAY LIVE A VERY, VERY LONG TIME … THE OLDER, PROBABLY NOT SO MUCH … SO WHAT CAN WE DO … IN 2017?

As I was almost certainly born a tad too late to benefit from the leaps in genetic/CRISPR science that will no doubt lead to greatly increased lifespans during the next generation or so. So all I have left is the simple strategy of figuring out ways to extract more value from the time I do have left. So my intention is to try and immerse myself more fully in whatever I am doing; to do my best to try and notice more, and thereby make any experiences I have, all the more richer. I am therefore interested in any ways I can slow down that inevitable stream of sand running through the hourglass … and taking a better look at each and every grain./

There is an old saying - ‘the cat that jumps is not the cat that lands’. In any given moment, an infinite number of changes are taking place in the world (and wider universe) around us.

And every minuscule change in that physical world is contributing to the concept we call ‘duration’ (a measurement of time). Time, we could say,  is the method by which we quantify the changes in the configuration of the universe/reality (as we understand it to be).

There has been some work done on the study of this concept of time …

In one experiment, participants were asked to sit in front of a computer screen that continuously flashed the same image of a shoe. Every once in awhile, the monotony was broken with a picture of a flower. The participants believed that the flower stayed on the screen longer, when in fact it cycled through just as quickly as the shoes. 

The thinking is that the flower seemed to linger because its novelty spurred the participants to pay greater attention to it. And the more attention we give to something, the more memory is laid down, and so our perception of duration seems longer. 

I like this idea. if we are immersed in something (learning/action activity/etc) to the point where are giving it our full attention, then we are ‘encoding’ novel memory and, upon reflection, we feel differently about how time has actually passed. 

I wish each of you a longer and more fully experienced 2017! Make it a year of rich experience and immersion in the moment. very best wishes: 

- JBW