Happy New Year, everyone! Is anyone else amazed that week one of 52 is already almost over? It seems like days just fly by. I’m sure it’s a by product of my age – my kiddos don’t seem to feel that time moves fast enough!

 

So, I’ve been working on slowing time down. Sounds good, right? Couldn’t you use a few more hours in your day? If I had more than 24 hours in a day, I wonder whether I’d sleep more or try to be more productive. Seems like sleeping away the extra hours would defeat the purpose of having them. Oops – my type A, hyperactive self is showing…

 

 

Time – it’s the great equalizer. Everyone gets exactly the same amount of time a day, 24 equal hours. Whether you’re the CEO of a company, a entrepreneur, a homemaker, artist or a combination of these things and more, you still get the same 24 hours. Some people are more productive with their time and seem to get lots done in the same 24 hours that others seem not to. Wouldn’t you love to know how some people accomplish so much in the same day you have? I love to be productive and I have lots of tips and tricks on how get lots done. But this isn’t going to be a post about productivity – we’ll do that another time. No, this post is about slowing time down.

 

Yes, you can really slow time down! How many times have you looked up from what you’ve been doing to discover that hours have passed and you’ve “missed” them? Or looked at your list and realized that you haven’t gotten anything on the list done, leaving you feeling like an unproductive lump? I have. Many times. But I also have the tendency to speed through my days at a dizzying clip, running past moment after moment. Then I wonder why those moments didn’t get recorded in my memory. I’ve lost time! So how do I slow the time down enough to actually live in those moments? I have to pay attention. I have to notice what’s around me, appreciate the beauty in the many small moments around me. Let me show you what I mean…

 

 

I went on a walk the other morning, in the early daylight hours. I usually leave my phone, but this time I took it along, thinking I might listen to some music on the walk. But as I walked, I started seeing things that I usually don’t. You can speed by things in a car that you won’t miss when you are moving at the speed your feet can generate! Anyway, I started taking pictures of some of the things I noticed on my walk. And while the walk may have only been 20 minutes, it seemed like a much more substantial amount of time. See, I slowed time down!

 

 

Seriously though, the reason time often seems to speed by is that we aren’t present for it. We’re already on to the next thing before we’ve even completed the moment we’re currently in. A good friend of mine uses a mantra that repeats again and again in my head: “Be here now.” I need the reminder! We so often are only partially present in a particular moment, either thinking about what’s next (me!), or thinking about how it was last time and worrying about whether it will work out right this time. We let our minds take us away from the present moment.

 

Remember back in my post Loving My Days when I talked about being in charge of my mind? So often we think that our mind is in charge of us, but really, we can direct our minds in the way we want them to go.  My friend Lisa (setthetablewithlove.com) taught me to think of my busy mind as an overactive and bossy secretary (mine is named Martha!). Her job is to remind me of how things have been done in the past, to bring up all the past experience that I’ve had in the past. Martha is a file puller – she pulls up the reminders of what didn’t go well in the past so I don’t make the same mistakes I’ve made in the past. This could be useful, but it also can backfire, leading me to believe that my current experience is doomed, or to immediately jump into action to change the outcome of what I’m going through. Martha definitely can feed my worry! She’s not bad though. Her job is to keep me informed and aware. But I am in charge of her: It is my job to either accept what she says as useful, or direct her to make a new “file” and way of thinking about something. When I choose to stop in a moment and pay attention, I can more easily direct Martha to record the good memory and make new files. 

 

 

So how do I do it? I use a couple of tools: my grateful list and taking pictures. When I notice something beautiful, moving, powerful or just good, I write it down. I put it in a paper or electronic journal and this helps cement the memory in my mind. I also take pictures, which makes me stop for the few seconds it takes to focus on the thing I’m noticing and record the picture. I got a beautiful camera one year as a gift and it takes amazing pictures – I just need to learn how to use it well! So usually, I take pictures with my phone. But they’re good enough to trigger the good memories, so don’t feel you have to have a fancy camera to record your memories! Just don’t take too many – if you spend too much time behind the camera, you won’t spend as much time in the moment!

 

 

There are lots of ways to get present: meditation, breath work, prayer, journaling. The key is to take notice, to live the moment, to “be here now”. Here’s to finding our way to living the moments of our lives and finding the beauty in as many as we can!

 

 

How do you slow time? What helps you to stay in the present moment? Please share in the comments section below!