AN ELDER'S PERCEPTION OF TIME

When we are well into our retirement years or have crossed the age of 65 or so it is time to ponder over things that tend to give us a sinking feeling at the pit of our stomach, every once in a while. Such feelings could be triggered by various concerns linked to health or financial stress or by some stressful incidents of the past. We should try to get rid of such feelings as much as possible by summoning good and rational thoughts to our troubled minds and cherish the companionship of near and dear ones. After all, stress and anxiety can cause havoc to both our body and mind. At our advanced age we have to adroitly face certain inevitable facts of life one of which could be our altered perception of time flow. ............ It is amazing how time seems to fly as we grow older leaving us lonesome and dejected with the realization that we are fast moving towards the last milestone of our life. In our perception - no sooner had the week started it was over in a blink; no sooner had the month started it was over too, before we realized how quickly it had gone by; no sooner had the year started it was over sooner than we expected. For a 7 year old kid, a week is a big portion of his life but for a 70 year old person it is a small portion of his life which according to experts contribute to the feeling that the week went by rather quickly. ............ Many time-tagged things also start to unfold before us at this stage. It would seem that most of the long term financial investments we had made just after retirement from service to generate a regular income stream reached their maturity dates much earlier than anticipated; making us scramble to reinvest the proceeds as best as we can. Our perceptions of time-flow can also go awry in another way and in a different setting. For example, we are at times stunned by the change in appearances of younger people we knew, when we meet them after many years thinking that they have aged beyond their years whereas the fact could be that they actually look their age. Have you wondered why time seems to move at a fast pace when we are watching a very exciting movie but seems to drag on and on if it’s a boring movie. It is quite difficult to explain why this happens given the fact that our brains are extremely complex structures and behave in mysterious and incomprehensible ways. ............ Experts say that the way our brain processes information changes as we age, altering our perception of time. The good news is that we can influence our perception of time-flow quite effectively. This can be done by engaging in activities that we enjoy like travelling to exotic places or learning new skills like dancing or cooking or simply reading a book that we value. Being active socially also helps. There are indeed many ways to allow our brain to focus and be free from distractions which can sharpen our memory and heighten our imagination. When our minds are devoid of clutter, time would seem to pass by at a more sedate pace. One must also remember that our physical health and well-being are as important as our mind - we must eat well and sleep well, actively engage in hobbies, involve ourselves in sports or physical training, get rid of fatigue with proper rest and recreation, give time for meditation and above all allow our hearts to fill with gratitude for every breath we take and every moment we live. Signing off with these eloquent words penned by the great English poet William Wordsworth: ............ “Your mind is a garden, your thoughts are the seeds, you can grow flowers, or you can grow weeds”