Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about practical things you can do to
Speaker 1: make good times seem to move as slowly as boring
Speaker 1: or bad times. Here's a universal truth. All time passes.
Speaker 1: Sometimes this is a blessing. If you're experiencing, say a
Speaker 1: night in the e r are, a miserably bumpy flight,
Speaker 1: or a painful dental procedure. Eventually you will be on
Speaker 1: the other side of these things. The flip side of
Speaker 1: this is that good times passed quickly to Every Christmas morning,
Speaker 1: after we have emerged from the frenzy of opening gifts,
Speaker 1: one of my children will note that, oh, it's over, unspoken.
Speaker 1: They have been looking forward to this for weeks, yet
Speaker 1: in a few hours it's on to the next year.
Speaker 1: All time passes, and a corollary, all time passes at
Speaker 1: the same pace. Yet that's sixty minutes with the dentist's
Speaker 1: hands in your mouth, or sixty minutes stuck in a
Speaker 1: maddening traffic jam pass at a very different pace than
Speaker 1: sixty minutes spent grabbing lunch with an old friend. The
Speaker 1: first two can feel like they take a lifetime. The
Speaker 1: latter goes faster than the blink of an eye. It
Speaker 1: raises the question is it possible to make the good
Speaker 1: times move as slowly as the boring or bad ones?
Speaker 1: And the short answer is no. However, it is possible
Speaker 1: to stretch good experiences to make them seem richer and longer.
Speaker 1: We've talked about savoring in the past on this podcast,
Speaker 1: but as the holiday season comes and goes, I think
Speaker 1: it's good to have a refresher. To savor is to
Speaker 1: feel pleasure, and to realize that you are feeling pleasure.
Speaker 1: It deepens the feeling by adding a second layer of acknowledgement.
Speaker 1: It means consciously moving slower and trying to make an
Speaker 1: experience richer. Subjects in a lab told to max out
Speaker 1: their enjoyment of a chocolate chip cookie almost universally slow
Speaker 1: down from a normal eating pace. They take in everything
Speaker 1: they can with all their senses and all their focus.
Speaker 1: We can do the same thing and make smart choices
Speaker 1: with our schedules too. The first step in stretching out
Speaker 1: good experiences is to look forward to them. Study your calendar.
Speaker 1: What are you excited about if you don't have anything
Speaker 1: on there, We'll put something on there. The post holiday
Speaker 1: slump can be tough, so make plans to get together
Speaker 1: with friends, to try a new restaurant, to go to
Speaker 1: a concert, take a midwinter vacation, or get tickets to
Speaker 1: your favorite sports teams game. The further in the few
Speaker 1: ture you plan these things, the longer you can savor
Speaker 1: your anticipation. During the event itself, try to be fully present,
Speaker 1: slow down, note what you can site, sounds, smells, if
Speaker 1: you're with other people, talk about how much you're enjoying yourself.
Speaker 1: Sometimes just saying those words forces our brains to pay attention.
Speaker 1: And finally, after the event, find some way to commemorate it.
Speaker 1: Print up pictures or by that concert t shirt, write
Speaker 1: about the event in your journal or post to write
Speaker 1: up on a blog or on social media. Get together
Speaker 1: with the people who were with you and recount your
Speaker 1: experiences again. All this helps cement the memory, and when
Speaker 1: memories are vivid, they appear to take up more space.
Speaker 1: I can tell you that getting to feed an actual
Speaker 1: rhino at the San Diego Zoos Safari Park in January
Speaker 1: of this year took less time than making myself coffee
Speaker 1: yesterday morning. But it seems a lot more vivid because
Speaker 1: of what I did and have done to stretch out
Speaker 1: that experience. Time moves at the same pace, but that
Speaker 1: good time slow down a lot. So today, think about
Speaker 1: what upcoming experiences you might be able to save her,
Speaker 1: make a plan for interacting with time to help it
Speaker 1: seem to move slower, and then prepared to revisit your
Speaker 1: memories afterwards. You just might make yourself feel like you
Speaker 1: have all the time in the world. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's b E the
Speaker 1: number four then Breakfast p o D. You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i
Speaker 1: heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward
Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows,