#35 Why time speeds up and the world become blurry

ByLukas
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The first hour after I was born, 60 minutes encapsulated my entire life outside the womb.

An hour is an eternity.

When I celebrated my first trip around the sun, one year encapsulated my entire life outside the womb.

An hour is not that long anymore. But a year… that’s an eternity.

When I’ll celebrate my 30th birthday next year, one year encapsulates about 1/30th of my experience in this body here on earth.

A year is not that long anymore. But 30 years… that’s an eternity.

Lukas Van Vyve

There’s an absolute, immutable version of time, and then there’s our felt interpretation, which speeds up with every passing moment because we compare it to all the “time we’ve lived so far”.

Maybe that’s why the older we get, the more effort it takes to stay in the present moment?

Because, unlike a newborn child, for whom, compared to its short lifespan, an hour is an eternity, and every second is an opportunity to discover, drink in the world, explore…

We’ve lived so many hours, minutes, and seconds that we don’t care anymore.

with every passing year
i’m more in a hurry
and the days, minutes, seconds
become ever more blurry

i can live fast and miss out
or slow down
listen, look around
be here, right now
let the world whisper loud
what life is all about

and at last
i hear you again.

Lukas Van Vyve

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    If you know what you want to say but you can’t find the words yet, write without thinking about the words.

    Write while thinking about the feeling.

    Allow yourself to feel it first.

    Feel it fully, then write the words.

    Feel it fully, let stream-of-consciousness words come out..

    Feel it fully, then start sculpting away.

    Keep feeling it, and keep writing about it. Every day. Because sooner or later, feeling the words words will reveal what you want to say.

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    #106 Pick your freedom battles

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    Most people don’t really want the freedom to do anything they want, in other words, a life without constraints.

    They want the freedom to set their own constraints.

    To decide, “I want to spend my time writing,” instead of saying, “I am supposed to become a lawyer because that’s what we do in this family.”

    To decide, “I don’t drink alcohol,” instead of saying, “My social circle forces me to have a glass when I’m out.”

    To decide, “I want to live in that house, drive that car, and go on that exotic holiday, and I’m going to make it happen,” instead of saying, “I’m constrained by my talent, potential, current job, or where I grew up.”

    To decide, “I have time to learn a new language because it’s important to me,” instead of saying, “I’m too busy, I can’t (or don’t deserve to) do anything nice for myself.”

    Good or bad, beneficial or misguided, constraints are always there.

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    Since it’s challenging to be aware of your decisions and their long-term constraining effects, which constraints do you consider important enough to set consciously (and spend considerable time and effort doing so)?

    Where do you allow others to dictate the constraints you live within?

    Who do you allow to dictate the constraints you live within?

    Pick your freedom battles.

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    #98 The Socializing-Solitude Alternation

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    Appreciation arises from contrast.

    How can I enjoy food without knowing what it’s like to be hungry?

    How can I appreciate the beauty of a painting without comparing it to something I’ve experienced as ugly?

    How can I appreciate social connections without being familiar with solitude? (Not loneliness. Solitude.)

    Constant connectivity (especially shallow connections through social media apps) without breaks from socializing numbs the whole bonding experience.

    Alternating socializing with solitude warms the heart.

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  • #329 The journey to overcoming self-doubt

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    • I write every day, even when I didn’t feel inspired.
    • I publish imperfect work every day, and saw nothing bad happened.
    • I publish frequently to reduce the “burden of quality” on each piece (if I publish every day, it doesn’t matter if some posts don’t do so well, because I’ll post again tomorrow anyway.

    In short: write and publish to overcome the fear of writing and publishing. Yes, it can be as simple as that.

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    #34 Where else?

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    Regularly asking “Where else?” is one of the simplest ways to become more creative and generate innovative insights.

    Not only does this allow you to connect new insights with existing knowledge and experience, but it also invites you to imagine new use cases.

    • “Where else have I seen this (or something similar) before?”
    • “Where else does this apply (to my current knowledge)?”
    • “Where else might this apply (in contexts where I haven’t discovered it yet)?”

    Examples

    Harvard Medical School professor Herbert Benson suggests the neurotransmitter NO (Nitric Oxide) may be the catalyst for breakthroughs and “aha moments.”
    Where else have I seen this before? -> Pranayama/Yogic Breathing: Nasal breathing (and humming “om”) can increase nitric oxide production fifteen-fold. Humming your way to epiphanies might be worth a try.

    Learning a language by grouping words instead of reducing it to words and grammar. Where else does this apply? -> Conversation Based Chunking; learning series of digits by grouping them together;… See: chunking concept in cognitive psychology

    Uber made it possible for people to share/rent out their car.
    Where else might this apply? -> How about sharing/renting out your home? That’s how AirBnB was born.

    You don’t have to look elsewhere.
    See what’s already there, then ask…
    Where else?

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