How to Slow Down Time
Focus on little details., Focus on your breath., Try progressive muscle relaxation., Sing, play music, or chant., Try just sitting.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Focus on little details.
There are a lot of theories about why time seems to speed up as we grow older, both subjective and scientific The neural pathways we form as children are almost always new, as each experience is new.It's as if every little detail is significant.
As we get older and more familiar with the world we inhabit, however, those little details don't carry the punch they once did.
To reclaim some of the wonder of your youth, try to train yourself to focus on little things as much as possible.
Take a short time each day to–yeah, literally–appreciate some flowers, or watch a sunset, or do a meditative task, like playing music or gardening.
Engage all your senses to try to be fully present, even if the event is insignificant.
The smaller, the better.
While you're sitting in traffic, stay focused on the temperature, the tactile feeling of your body on the seat, the smells of the car and the traffic.
How strange it is to be driving at all! -
Step 2: Focus on your breath.
Breath-meditation is one of the easiest and most common methods of training yourself to slow down and become more aware.
Center yourself in basic breathing rituals to be more present in the moment, and slow down time.
Sit in a comfortable chair, upright, using good posture, and take a deep breath.
Hold it, then exhale it slowly.
Do this at least ten times while your eyes are closed.
Feel the oxygen coming into your body, nourishing you, and feel it leaving your body.
Move the air you breathe to different parts of your body as you meditate.
Feel it working for you.
After your ten controlled breaths are done, open your eyes and pay attention to details around you.
If you are outside, look at the sky, the horizon, listen to sounds around you.
If you are inside, look at the ceiling, the walls and any furniture.
Be in the moment.
If you don't like the idea of "meditating," just think about it as breathing.
There doesn't have to be a lot of spiritual jargon wrapped up in it for it to be effective for you. , Progressive muscle relaxation is a basic, but formalized way of relaxing your body without doing much of anything but focusing your attention on different places in your body, and pushing your presence into those places.
It's a way of both relaxing and staying active, and can be a helpful way to focus yourself in a simple activity and slow time.
To start, sit upright in a comfortable chair, focusing on your breath.
Then pick a part of your body, starting either at your feet or you head, and tense a muscle.
Try contouring your face, as if you just ate something sour, holding it for a count of 15 seconds, then slowly releasing it and feeling the tension melt away.
Continue moving to different parts of your body, tensing muscles, holding it, and then releasing the tension slowly, until you've moved around all your body.
This is an excellent way of centering yourself, being present in the moment, and relaxing. , Another commonly used tactic of transcending time is to use a repetitive vocalization as a chant, to center yourself and to work into a kind of trance.
This can be done by singing, chanting, or by playing music, and is done in lots of traditions, from Pentecostal Christians to the Hare Krishna.You can chant any single phrase, mantra, or fragment.
Try chanting the Hare Krishna, or just sing Beyonce over and over: "I'm a survivor" is a perfectly effective mantra.
If you play an instrument, you may be very familiar with the experience of losing track of time while playing a repetitive fragment or a series of chords.
Just repeat the same three notes on piano, letting them ring out slowly, and sit with the notes, focusing on your breath.
Time will slow.
If you don't play, and aren't interested in chanting or singing, try listening to some soft ambient or drone-like music.
Some excellent compositions for blissing out and slowing down time include William Basinski's Disintegration Loops, Jordan De La Sierra's Gymnosphere, and anything by Brian Eno. , If you ask a Zen monk what meditation is, they will usually say, "Just sitting." If you ask what Zen is, again, the answer will probably be, "Just sitting." The big secret to meditation and to slowing time is that there is no secret to awareness.
If you're feeling agitated and want to slow down time, just sit.
Do nothing.
Center yourself in the act of sitting, and just be.
Try to only do one thing at one time.
When you're sitting, just sit.
When you're reading, just read.
Don't read, and eat bagels, and text your friend, and think about the weekend.
Just read. -
Step 3: Try progressive muscle relaxation.
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Step 4: play music
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Step 5: or chant.
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Step 6: Try just sitting.
Detailed Guide
There are a lot of theories about why time seems to speed up as we grow older, both subjective and scientific The neural pathways we form as children are almost always new, as each experience is new.It's as if every little detail is significant.
As we get older and more familiar with the world we inhabit, however, those little details don't carry the punch they once did.
To reclaim some of the wonder of your youth, try to train yourself to focus on little things as much as possible.
Take a short time each day to–yeah, literally–appreciate some flowers, or watch a sunset, or do a meditative task, like playing music or gardening.
Engage all your senses to try to be fully present, even if the event is insignificant.
The smaller, the better.
While you're sitting in traffic, stay focused on the temperature, the tactile feeling of your body on the seat, the smells of the car and the traffic.
How strange it is to be driving at all!
Breath-meditation is one of the easiest and most common methods of training yourself to slow down and become more aware.
Center yourself in basic breathing rituals to be more present in the moment, and slow down time.
Sit in a comfortable chair, upright, using good posture, and take a deep breath.
Hold it, then exhale it slowly.
Do this at least ten times while your eyes are closed.
Feel the oxygen coming into your body, nourishing you, and feel it leaving your body.
Move the air you breathe to different parts of your body as you meditate.
Feel it working for you.
After your ten controlled breaths are done, open your eyes and pay attention to details around you.
If you are outside, look at the sky, the horizon, listen to sounds around you.
If you are inside, look at the ceiling, the walls and any furniture.
Be in the moment.
If you don't like the idea of "meditating," just think about it as breathing.
There doesn't have to be a lot of spiritual jargon wrapped up in it for it to be effective for you. , Progressive muscle relaxation is a basic, but formalized way of relaxing your body without doing much of anything but focusing your attention on different places in your body, and pushing your presence into those places.
It's a way of both relaxing and staying active, and can be a helpful way to focus yourself in a simple activity and slow time.
To start, sit upright in a comfortable chair, focusing on your breath.
Then pick a part of your body, starting either at your feet or you head, and tense a muscle.
Try contouring your face, as if you just ate something sour, holding it for a count of 15 seconds, then slowly releasing it and feeling the tension melt away.
Continue moving to different parts of your body, tensing muscles, holding it, and then releasing the tension slowly, until you've moved around all your body.
This is an excellent way of centering yourself, being present in the moment, and relaxing. , Another commonly used tactic of transcending time is to use a repetitive vocalization as a chant, to center yourself and to work into a kind of trance.
This can be done by singing, chanting, or by playing music, and is done in lots of traditions, from Pentecostal Christians to the Hare Krishna.You can chant any single phrase, mantra, or fragment.
Try chanting the Hare Krishna, or just sing Beyonce over and over: "I'm a survivor" is a perfectly effective mantra.
If you play an instrument, you may be very familiar with the experience of losing track of time while playing a repetitive fragment or a series of chords.
Just repeat the same three notes on piano, letting them ring out slowly, and sit with the notes, focusing on your breath.
Time will slow.
If you don't play, and aren't interested in chanting or singing, try listening to some soft ambient or drone-like music.
Some excellent compositions for blissing out and slowing down time include William Basinski's Disintegration Loops, Jordan De La Sierra's Gymnosphere, and anything by Brian Eno. , If you ask a Zen monk what meditation is, they will usually say, "Just sitting." If you ask what Zen is, again, the answer will probably be, "Just sitting." The big secret to meditation and to slowing time is that there is no secret to awareness.
If you're feeling agitated and want to slow down time, just sit.
Do nothing.
Center yourself in the act of sitting, and just be.
Try to only do one thing at one time.
When you're sitting, just sit.
When you're reading, just read.
Don't read, and eat bagels, and text your friend, and think about the weekend.
Just read.
About the Author
Jose Ortiz
Brings years of experience writing about crafts and related subjects.
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