Can you slow down time?

Nicola Griffiths, Cirencester Hypnotherapy Centre, Sept 2019

I moved house late last year.  I’ve decided I’m not going to do it again in a hurry for a number of reasons, one being that I’m still trying to find things some six months later!  However, when things are changing all around you, there is an advantage.

I have an elderly Mum, 92 years old to be precise. She’s always saying that time goes by quicker as you get older, I agree!  For instance, I was getting alarmed at how fast Christmas kept coming around, but this year it seems to be dawdling onto the horizon rather than galloping towards me.

So, what happened to slow down the passing of time?

Well, when you are born you come across a lot of new things, especially on Day 1 of your journey! Everything is new, and the brain has to process this.  As we move through childhood into adulthood, many things change, such as schools, friends, college or university, etc, and then maybe a new job – all new experiences.

When dealing with these new experiences, the brain has to work harder and process them. However, when it’s a repetition of something we’ve experienced before, the brain can access our memory templates. So, for the vast majority of people, instead of having to think about ‘How do I walk’ as you put one foot in front of another, you actually do it without even thinking about it. 

The subconscious mind accesses these memory templates without you knowing about it and comes up with a response of what to do and how to do it.  The same thing happens when you talk to someone you know well, are you aware of the exact words you’ll be using next? No, you’ll be working in automatic response mode.

Once we enter a set pattern of routine, the brain knows what to expect and instead of having to process it as such, it now reaches for an automatic answer from the filing cabinet of your mind and it does this very quickly indeed. So, we can move onto the next thing quickly and our perception is that time speeds up.  But if we chuck in something brand new, like a new job or a new journey, then the brain has to work through it and this takes a bit of time. Therefore, time seems to slow down.

I’m now stuck in a quandary.  Do I move house every year so that Christmas doesn’t come around too quickly or do I relax and just get on with life?  I’ve decided there must be a happy medium, so I’m staying put but learning how to make bread and grow vegetables.  The first is going sort of okay, the second, well, we’ll have to wait and see!

Nicola Griffiths runs the Cirencester Hypnotherapy & Health Centre in Dyer Street where they have over 35 different therapists dealing with mind and body treatments. http://www.cirencesterhypnotherapycentre.co.uk