ARE YOU JUST CRAMMING MORE INTO LIFE?
How can we maximize the experience of life? Most people just try to add more events into their day. They try to squeeze the maximum content into the time available. This leads to overload or overwhelm! We risk experiencing anxiety, confusion or even chaos.
…Are you trying to cram too much into your life?
EXPAND YOUR EXPERIENCE OF EACH MOMENT.
Personal transformation requires a more sophisticated time management strategy! So how can we slow time and heighten the experience? We can’t slow time itself, but we can slow our perception of time. With effectively more time available, our experience of events can be expanded.
Instead of just doing more, we maximize the experience of all that we feel and do. We thus heighten our appreciation of every moment. We can stretch our perceived ‘sense’ of time. This effectively expands the time we have to enjoy each day. This is much more powerful and rewarding than just cramming more into your life. It is also much less stressful!
…Have you ever experienced a slowing of time?
SLOW DOWN TIME BY SLOWING YOUR THOUGHTS.
We expand our sense of time in the mind. We can learn to slow our thoughts using simple mind training. By training our mind in this way, we extract more from each experience! Remember, we don’t actually expand time itself, but only our mind-based perception of it. But it is effectively the same thing!
Train your mind to magnify each moment. Quiet contemplation and simple meditation help slow our thoughts. The aim is to increase the gap or space between individual thoughts. Increasing these gaps has the remarkable effect of slowing the brain’s interpretation of time. We can then use this to maximize the experience of any situation.
…Have you noticed the gap between your thoughts?
EXPANDING TIME MAXIMISES THE EXPERIENCE.
Using this effect of ‘expanded time’ we can more easily focus on what we are experiencing. Our thoughts and feelings are then easier to identify and understand. It allows us to zoom in on our inner world, like a pair of binoculars. Having more time to focus provides both a magnified and expanded awareness of what’s really happening.
…Can you see how ‘expanded time’ could help you better navigate life?
NOTICE THE GAPS BETWEEN YOUR THOUGHTS.
There is a gap between your every thought, but at first this is hard to detect. To slowly train your awareness of this, start by simply noting the gaps between your breaths. Focus on your breathing until you can clearly sense the pauses. Then try the same thing with your thoughts.
EXPAND THE GAPS BY FOCUSSING ON THEM.
What other techniques can help to expand the gaps between your thoughts? Contemplation or meditation helps settle the chatter of our ‘monkey mind’. This helps slow down our thoughts. Then by slowing down our thinking even further we better appreciate our individual thoughts.
Next, we practise expanding the space between our thoughts. We do this by focusing our attention on these gaps! This makes the gaps appear longer, which creates a relative expansion. All this slows down the psychological perception of time, in our brain!
YOUR THOUGHTS WILL ALSO SEEM MAGNIFIED.
Practise this technique over and over. You will notice your awareness becoming more finely tuned. Think of your train of thoughts like a train on a railway. Each thought is like a train carriage, separated by a gap. As we slow our train, the gaps between each carriage seem to become wider.
As our thoughts slow, we can more easily study and observe the gaps. Our individual thoughts become more well defined as well. The thoughts now seem to stand out more clearly from the background. They can even seem magnified!
We become increasingly aware that each thought or sensation is surrounded by vast stillness & space. We give our thoughts ample space to exist, without any restriction. In this way, we better appreciate the thought. It effectively becomes magnified & maximized. Our experience is heightened. We can thus better savor the beauty & grandeur of each moment.
CHOOSE BETTER THOUGHTS WITH LESS URGENCY.
With a greater sense of time, we can easily assess whether we want to engage with a thought or not. We have effectively created an extra buffer of time to judge whether a thought is empowering or not. Our heightened perception of time also gives us more emotional distance and objectivity.
We effectively have more time to choose whether we want to engage with a thought. We are less reactive because we feel under less urgency and pressure. This means we only engage with the thoughts or feelings that empower us. And we can better spot unhelpful thoughts and just let them pass.
…Do you like the idea of having more time to select the best thought?
IDENTIFY AND RELEASE NEGATIVE THOUGHTS.
Sometimes a negative thought, or a train of negative thoughts slips through our guard. But because we now have greater clarity over each individual thought, it’s easier to see where to cease our attachment to them. Slowing our thoughts helps us to make unbiased observations. So, it’s easier to identify and release negative thoughts that slip through.
By remaining un-attached from our thoughts, we avoid emotional overreaction or rumination. We avoid the unnecessary story or drama that’s attached to every thought or emotion. So, there is much less stress and more inner peace.
…Can you see how slowing your thoughts helps to better choose them?
SLOWING OUR THOUGHTS IS NATURAL PROCESS!
We don't have to worry about all the technicalities of this process. The remarkable super-computer in our brain deals with the details & logistics. The Universal intelligence that the brain interfaces with does most of the work for us. Our mind training and meditation practice helps us interface with this Universal intelligence. All this remarkable capacity can be utilized for our personal success.
…Are you ready to practise expanding the gaps between your thoughts?
EXPANDING YOUR PERCEPTION AIDS CLARITY.
Our thoughts no longer need to be racing and jumbled. When they are slowed, they become better defined. We can then avoid reacting to them or being trapped by them. This helps reduce our daily drama. The overall benefit is a heightened perception and more clarity. We then can better manage our current reality.
These mind management techniques help maximize our success in personal transformation. Additional mind training exercises can aid our discernment and decision making. All this contributes to our winning edge.
…Can you see how gaining more clarity can lead to a better life?
FULLY APPRECIATE EVERY MOMENT.
In summary, trying to cram more into our already busy lives is counterproductive. We can instead maximize each moment by expanding our sense of time. Heightening our sense of time is also more efficient than traditional time management techniques. This is because we increase our appreciation of every thought, emotion & situation. Having a sufficient commitment to personal transformation is also critical for our success. We will discuss this next.