How can we manage our time better with Mindfulness? Could you benefit from a Guided Mindfulness Life Coach?
With so much to do, time can feel like grains of sand slipping through our fingers. The question arises: how can guided mindfulness help liberate us from the pressures of time and accept the limitations that a set number of hours and minutes imposes on our days, so we can achieve what we need to without feelings of hopelessness and stress?
How do we perceive time?
Our perception of time seems to be a product of human evolution and we are likely to be the only animal who perceives time in such a complex way. The neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine play a key part in time perception, though we don’t yet completely understand how. Working alongside our circadian rhythms – our sense of when to eat and sleep, that comes largely from changes to light and darkness – is a different clock that helps us to perceive lengths of time in the seconds to minutes’ range.
Our perception of time varies greatly depending on activity. A group of scientists in Portugal carried out an activity where they trained mice to estimate time. When the mice were more stimulated and there was more electrical activity in the dopamine transmitters of their brains, they were more likely to underestimate time. Mice are of course very different to humans, though this implies a link between rewarding activities and time moving quickly.
What is time perception?
Time perception refers to the subjective interpretation of an individual’s experience of time. We’ve all heard phrases such as, ‘time flies when you’re having fun’. The suggestion is that time can feel very different depending on what we are doing. A meeting with a group of friends can pass in the blink of an eye and long, arduous tasks can seem to fill an entire day. Our perception of time can also vary depending on our stage of life.
Time and Guided Mindfulness
The problem is that not all tasks can be rewarding and fun. For many of us that applies especially to work related tasks. But how we experience our lives, and so how we experience time, depends on our ability to be present and attentive.
Evidence suggests that mindfulness training elongates our perception of time. Kramer et al 2013 found that when participants completed a task after meditation, they overestimated the time it took them.
One explanation for this is that meditation slows down the intensity of brainwaves. A study conducted in Norway found that meditation took away rumination and lowered the intensity of brain activity. This resulted in an elongation of time.
One of the stressful sides of a busy day is feeling like there’s not enough time to get everything done. Mindfulness can relax us and help us to feel more content in the moment. When we feel like we have enough time we are more likely to get everything done and enjoy what we do more too.
To learn more about time management and how mindfulness can help, contact me for a consultation.
Mindfulness Life Coach at Khalfani@guidedmindfulness.us