Purpose: An exercise to reflect on our perception of time.
Explanation: Time and experiencing time is something we all have in common, however, how we experience time can be very different. Some activities make time feel like it moves faster and some slow it to a grinding halt. Improving awareness of our perception of time can aid us when choosing and planning the appropriate activities for our moods. The knowledge gained can also be leveraged to help us learn how to manipulate our perception of time to get the most out of activities such as studying, where we may want time to move faster so we are more productive, or when resting/relaxing, where we want time to move slower so we have more time to relax.
Reflecting on time perception:
Learning how to leverage our time perception:
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Think about time in your life and how it passes on an average day.
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Think about days in the past when you have found time has moved slowly. What activities were you doing during this time? How did you feel during this time? What thoughts did you have during this time?
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Think about days in the past when you have found time has moved quickly. What activities were you doing during this time? How did you feel during this time? What thoughts did you have during this time?
Make a list of the activities and actions that you felt made time move slower and faster than usual.
Once these activities have been identified, note them down and when engaging in these activities in the future, consciously reflect on your experience of time during these activities and verify if they are inline with your previous expectations.
Once you have two lists of activities, those which seem to slow down your experience of time and those which seem to speed it up, try to identify common features between the different activities on each list. The common features between the activities may include features of the activities themselves (e.g. they may be all types of sports or they may all involve reading) or external features such as the people involved, the places they occur, the day or time they take place.
Take time to review and think about the common features between the activities on each list. Once you have identified the common features of the actions and activities that seem to slow down and speed up your experience of time, you can use this knowledge to increase your control of your experience of time.