by Brian Botdorf

Created on: February 19, 2010   Last Updated: March 03, 2010

The experience of time is a result of causality. All the things that you experience through out a day defines how you spent that time. If a person walks into a room, they instantly define that moment with what they see the second they walk in. If a person walks into a room with their eyes closed and feels their way through, they will define that moment with the time it took them to feel their way through it. Being acutely aware of every sound, smell and texture. The more enjoyable or “in tune” with the things you experience, the more you will remember. The more you remember, the longer the time of that day seems to be.

We all remember how summer seemed to last forever when we were kids and now as adults, the years seem to go by in a “blink of an eye.” As children, we remember so vividly those long summer vacations of playing hide and seek and the grass beneath our feet. Swimming in the ocean and feeling the sand between our toes and wind blowing in our hair. Watching thunderstorms and playing in the rain with our friends, going on family vacations, the smell of a Dandelion, the taste of ice cream and your first summer love. The intensity of love, new experiences, optimism and lack of responsibilities are reasons why every day was so enjoyable as a child. As children we experience life with all our senses. As adults, our days become routine and monotonous. Filled with stress, responsibilities and cynicism that we learn to deal with and bury within ourselves. Our days seem to blend together to a point where one day is indistinguishable from the other. Most adults work 40 hour weeks in jobs that leave them feeling stressed, bored and unfulfilled. Days where your free time is spent “taxiing” your children to and from practice, going to dental appointments, mowing lawns or trying to meet whatever other responsibility you have accumulated over the years. To tired to even do anything on the one or two days you may have off a week.

To really observe and experience the world in all its wonders with all your senses is to experience things like you did as a child. Like walking through a room with your eyes closed and slowly feeling your way through. To take the time and truly appreciate a sunset, a flower, children playing or watching the clouds moving slowly across a summer sky. Doing something that is rewarding, that leaves your day feeling fulfilled, are the keys to making time seem slower. Things that we enjoy, experience and remember accumulate in our memories like a photo album. Things that are monotonous, boring and stressful are discarded in our memories like junk mail. That is why time seemed to go so much slower when we were children. There is so much more to look back on and relive in your memories. We can never experience the world like we did when we were children, but we can try and do the things in life that make them more enjoyable. To make time seem to run slower. Finding a job that is more rewarding, spending more free time with family, finding a way to make your life less stressful, or just taking the time to smell the flowers. Nobody wants to take the “fast track” to old age, but we can get off at each rest stop, stretch our legs, feel the sun on our face and maybe decide to just walk the rest of the way.

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