The third module (I’m just going to call them modules, since that’s what Pluralsight calls them) is about time. Specifically our perception of it, which is all that really matters. It leads with this quote by Albert Einstein explaining his theory of relativity:
If I burn myself on a hot stove, that fraction of a second seems like an eternity. But if I’m with a beautiful woman, even eternity seems like one second. It’s gone in a moment. It’s never enough.
It then asks you to do an activity that you don’t like for five minutes and an activity that you do like for five minutes to illustrate this point. I admit to skipping this since we all know what this feels like, really, and I spend enough time a day alternating between not having enough time to finish the thing I’m working on and doing something that drives me nuts because it’s taking so long.
It then proceeds to suggest that time is subjective, but your body interprets your experience of time as a biological response. This introduces the concept of “biological age” vs. “chronological age”.
Chronological age is what we typically consider to be aging. And you have hang-ups about particular numerical values based on chronological age. But if you can get past these hang-ups and preconceptions, then you can ultimately decrease your biological age. In other words, you will never be 25 again, but you can, possibly, feel like you’re 25 again.
One way to hack the way your brain interprets time is through meditation — an act in which you are totally focussed on what your body is doing (which lengthens your perception of time). Even brief meditation (like 3 minutes brief) can accomplish this.
This module came right as I was directed to this TED talk from a post on the Pluralsight blog:
Watch the talk, because it’s worth it, but the gist is that generally positive people perform better and are more creative. I like performing better and being creative, so this pushes being positive up on my list of things to do. One of the things that talk mentioned that can help you have a more positive outlook is meditation. Hey, common thread. So some good timing in watching that video and this lesson in the Timeless You course convinced me that, yeah, meditation is probably a thing I should try (again).
I’ve never been able to stick with it in the past, but I’m hoping that meditating in small increments might be more manageable and more something that I can get into the habit of doing.
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