Welcome to the Best Life University podcast.
I'm Dr.
Lynn Brown,
A counselor and educator.
In this podcast,
I discuss a myriad of topics related to the five dimensions of personal growth,
Mental,
Social,
Spiritual,
Emotional,
And physical.
Thank you so much for listening.
Today's topic is Living Mindfully in a Changing World,
Living in the Moment.
What is time?
Since there is only the now,
There really isn't time.
The past is a memory that can be altered by our perceptions,
So it is an illusion and not reliable.
The future has yet to exist,
So it too is an illusion.
Therefore,
The only time that exists is this moment.
We can easily be transported to times and places other than the here and now.
What happens to you when as an adult you visit your parents or they come to visit you?
Most of us become 12.
The norms and values of our parents come to the front of our minds.
You hear a song that was popular when you were in high school.
It brings back memories,
Good or bad.
You smell something that reminds you of the past.
Once again,
You are transported in time.
As soon as we bring forth memories,
We are no longer in the moment.
We move to another place in time.
And when doing therapeutic hypnosis with a client,
They are able to,
In their mind,
See the sights,
Hear the sounds,
Smell the aromas,
And touch what is around them.
When we daydream or fantasize about the future,
We project our desires and see it as we imagine.
We abolish time without even being aware of it.
You get comfortable and get involved in a good book,
A movie,
Or a game.
You get absorbed in a hobby.
When our full attention is on something,
We lose track of time.
It disappears.
We use seconds as real time.
Many cultures use seconds to create time,
But this is merely a convenience,
An arbitrary standard for making arrangements.
One Indian culture uses the time to boil rice as the basic unit of real time.
Our sense of time changes with age and life circumstances.
When we are very young,
We have no concept of time.
We are only in each moment.
By age 2,
The use of the term today appears,
And by age 2 ½,
The average child begins to use tomorrow.
The term yesterday emerges at age 3.
Morning and afternoon are used at age 4.
By 5,
Days arrive.
With increasing age,
A gradual sophistication of this time sense occurs,
With a major change occurring between the 5th and 6th grades.
By the age of 16,
Maturity of time comprehension has occurred.
When we are experiencing something new to us,
Time slows down in order to take in each aspect.
We focus on minute details so time seems to slow down.
Think of when you drove to a new job the first day if you had a commute.
It seemed to take a long time.
You were noticing the road signs,
Checking the GPS,
And were aware of what time it was.
Each subsequent time you drove to your new job,
The trip went a bit faster until it seemed to take much less time than before.
Once you had gotten into the habit,
The routine,
Time sped up.
This then leads to why time speeds up as we get older.
The more routine our lives are,
The faster time seems to go.
This is because we are not engaging in anything that is new that slows down time.
So the key to making time slow down,
To feel as though we have more of it,
Is to engage in novel activities,
To have new experiences.
How does living in the moment allow me to grow?
You need to live in the moment in order to grow,
Learn,
And move forward.
By recognizing the importance of the moment,
You can utilize it.
Remember that meeting you attended last week?
How much of the time were you really paying attention?
Where were you while your body was sitting at the meeting?
Think of some examples of you not being where your body is.
Most of the time,
Our minds are somewhere else.
When this happens,
We are out of touch with ourselves.
When you aren't there,
You aren't experiencing life.
Therefore,
There is no growth,
No learning,
No forward movement.
When this happens,
You are not able to act in line with your true self.
Living as your true self requires the ability to free yourself from time.
Practice living in the moment by making an effort to notice your environment.
Get in the habit of really listening when others are speaking to you.
Don't form your response until the other person has finished.
And before you respond,
Tell them in your own words what you thought they said.
Effective listening is a great way to get used to living in the moment.
Pay attention while eating.
Notice the temperature,
Texture,
And taste of each bite of food you eat.
When you find yourself worrying about the future,
Stop and bring yourself back to this very moment.
When you find yourself reliving an uncomfortable experience from the past,
Stop and bring yourself back to this very moment.
Copyright 2022,
Lynn Baranius Brown.
