The
old saying about time seeming to pass faster the older one gets must have some
truth to it – the relativistic nature in modern physics seems to apply to older
people without impacting the younger folks.
How else can I explain of how Christmastime has sneaked up on me so fast
this year? Here it is December 20th and
I have not started any preparations for the holidays. I thank the powers that be, the internet and
online shopping from keeping me from being considered by my family as the
“Grinch.” I am looking forward to family
get-togethers, feasting on my sisters’ tamales, cookies, breads and other great
treats and to enjoy watching the faces of excitement and expectation in the
faces of the little ones. I have to
admit, I’m getting into it myself now, and listening to Christmas music is
still nice (it has not become the annoying noise it usually is by this time of
year), piñata construction has begun and I feel light on my feet.
But
the perception of time “flying” faster and faster as I get older bothers me a
little. I could argue that it is relative
to aging: For my eleven year-old, one
year is almost 10% of his entire life.
For me, however, on year is only 1.5% of my life. So does that mean that time is going almost
seven times faster for me? In his
“Principles of Psychology” in the late 1800s, William James indicated that
people measure time by memorable events such as the first kiss, the first day
of school, the fist family vacation, etc., and that the lack of “new”
experiences at an older age causes days, weeks and months to smooth out and the
differentiation of time seems to speed up because the years “grow hollow and
collapse.” So is the trick to slowing
the perception of time is to keep looking and doing new things? Hmmm… I wonder, would the first social
security check, the first retirement, the first loss of a friend or relative to
old age count?
I
have noticed however that as I aged I have paid less attention to time. I stopped keeping a schedule in my job over
15 years ago. I stopped using an alarm
clock over 25 years ago, I don’t even own a watch and the only time I know what
time it is, is from my smart phone and my computer. There is a neighbor in our street that has a
large digital Christmas sign that is a clock counting down the days, hours,
minutes and seconds till Christmas. My
son always wants me to slow down when I drive by their house and he faithfully
counts down the days until Christmas. My
main concern is not counting time my concern is directed to specific
tasks: getting to work, showering and
shaving, taking out the garbage, paying bills; all repetitive event-directed
activities that where the passage of time is not a factor. So, is time going faster because I no longer
measure it or care for it?
Maybe
as we age, we enter a “warp filed” and go in and out of a parallel universe
that seems to be in sync with this one and where the laws of physics, including
time, are different. If true, warping in
and out of the two universes has definitely affected my way of thinking. We
care about different things from people of pre-retirement age; visions of sugar
plums do not dance in our heads, it’s more like visions naps, warm feet and
soft pajamas; visions of getting to the bathroom on time, visions of
communicating old memories and experiences to the children and
grandchildren. Sugar plums are the last
thing on my mind. Maybe as we age we
look for time to go backwards to our old experiences and in doing so we forget
to measure its passage: We “warp” out
into the parallel universe and when we “warp” back in time has already gone by
and it seems to have passed faster.
So,
I would like to leave you with a Christmas wish before I warp out of this
universe and into my time-less universe and forget that we are in the Christmas
season of the year: As this year comes
to a close and as we start the New Year, I hope we all stop and reflect the wonderful
benefits of family, set goals to seek harmony with nature, cultivate curiosity
for truth and enhance our quest for a purity of conscience. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy and
Prosperous New Year.
Rafael
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