Some people just look as if they have all the time in the world: jazz musicians on stage, babies with a new toy, Michael Jordan dribbling down the court with eight seconds left in a game in which the Bulls trail by one point.
These are the rare relaxed individuals who seem to have outmaneuvered time, no small task in a society that, according to a re-cent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, showed 40 percent of the population would choose more time over more money while 59 percent described their lives as busy and 19 percent reported a time crunch that causes serious personal stress.
The common denominator for the time-savvy is a simple but elusive concept. They focus solely on the present moment, rather than worry about the future or analyze the past.
For example, jazz players must attend to the improvisation of their music, which can veer in any direction, unlike the disciplined crescendo of a classical piece or even the familiar beat of a popular rap song. Babies are blissfully unaware of a 24-hour clock invented some 100 years ago. Jordan, who sets his own pace pretty much wherever he goes, finds his most peaceful state (jocks like to call it “the zone”) while gracing a basketball floor; he knows what he can accomplish, and those eight seconds unwind as if in super slow-motion.
The Herbie Hancocks and Michael Jordans have avoided the time trap into which most of us fall. Psychological studies show the typical American devotes roughly 30 percent of daily thought on past events and another 30 percent on future activities. Researchers have documented how this adversely affects memory and concentration. More important, not much time remains for the present, which seems to zing some days and zag others even though the clock ticks the same seconds and minutes and hours at the same rock-steady pace every year.
The result is something Dr. Stephan Rechtschaffen calls “time poverty,” or the sinking feeling there are not enough minutes in a busy day or week. He is prominent among a growing number of holistic physicians and psychological researchers who think that merely changing one’s perception of time can improve health without eliminating a single entry in the ubiquitous day planner.
Whether the collective time deficit is perception or reality is a subject of academic debate. The University of Maryland’s Use of Time Project showed Americans now generally have more free time–about five hours per week on average–than in 1964 (with some notable exceptions, especially parents of young children). Part of the logic is people are doing less housework, raising fewer kids and retiring earlier.
On the other hand . . .
Harvard University economist Juliet Schor sees it differently, that Americans are trapped in a work-and-spend cycle with less free time than ever, which she fully explained in her 1991 best seller, “The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure.” She counts an additional 163 work hours per year–more than four 40-hour weeks–for the typical American employee, who gets roughly half as much vacation as a European counterpart.
During his stress management seminars at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in upstate New York, Rechtschaffen always begins with the same question: Do you have enough time to do what you want in life? The answer is a resounding “no” from 95 percent of the class.
“It’s as if someone is quietly whispering `fire!’ in your ear all day long,” said Rechtschaffen. “That makes us feel if we could go just a bit faster, everything would work out. We hurry ourselves when at that moment we need to do just the opposite. We need to pause, take a break. Being more in the present will help us become more effective.”
One of his suggestions is borrowed from Zen monk and author Thich Nhat Hanh. Whenever the phone rings, take a deep breath or two (inhaling to the lower part of the lungs) before picking up the receiver. This means you answer on maybe the third ring instead of the first.
The theory goes something like this: If you fully concentrate on the here and now–the task at hand–then you agonize less about the past or future. You feel more settled, less hectic.
At the end of the day, there is a greater sense of accomplishment, even though it’s quite possible you didn’t do one more thing than usual. You have wasted less energy on what has already happened or what might happen. You feel more whole, remember positive things from the day.
“There is literally no stress in the present moment,” said Robert Simon Siegel, a Santa Monica, Calif., psychologist and author of “Six Seconds to True Calm: Thriving Skills for the 21st Century” (Little Sun Books, $22.95). “When you simply do something rather than think about it or talk about it, the body activates a different set of neurological pathways. You feel no tension because you leave the brain and trust your senses and instincts.”
Siegel leads training sessions for corporations and medical centers, including NBC, Chevron USA and the Pritikin Longevity Center. He always makes the distinction between his message and the tenets of increasingly popular time management consultants who teach people the questionable art of “multitasking,” or doing two or three things at once.
“This is about a greater appreciation of time rather than checking off more stuff on your things-to-do list,” he said. “If you can experience quality time, you will feel better about the day. You become more realistic about what you can get done in a day, which saves you from unrealistic expectations. And being less stressed is likely to help you approach the next task on your list with more energy.”
Find time for solitude
A couple of suggestions from Siegel: Put yourself into a “thriving focus” (actively pursuing more of what you desire in your life) rather than the more typical “surviving focus” (avoiding what you don’t want in your life). A sports coach might describe it as playing to win rather than not to lose.
Siegel encourages his clients to find solitude in the crevices of even the busiest days, touching on a need expressed by a third of the respondents in the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. His six-second remedy involves (1) Inhaling deeply and visualizing the breath sending energy to the core of your being (such as the lungs, heart, soul, whatever you prefer); (2) exhaling, releasing all muscles from the forehead to the feet; and (3) pausing briefly, hearing all external sounds.
The technique will take longer than six seconds at first.
“The time frame is relative,” said Siegel. “I have one client, a CEO of a Los Angeles-based company, who told me he couldn’t even afford six seconds out of his day, especially during important meetings. I told him a one-second routine will help him feel more `in time’ than `out of time.’ “
`Honoring the mundane’
Not that decelerating is the only way to change our relationship with the clock. Rechtschaffen said quite the contrary.
“There are times when you need to go fast or want to go fast,” he said. “Working on a tight deadline or attending a rock concert can be invigorating. But it’s what you do in between those quickened times that makes the difference in your health. Understanding your own inner body rhythms is vital.”
In fact, Rechtschaffen wrote a new book based on just this premise. It’s called “Time Shifting” (Doubleday, $22.95) and he wants to make that term part of everyday vocabulary.
“We can’t be always be downshifting,” he explained. “That’s reality. People have jobs and family responsibilities. Dropping out of life is not an option. You’re left to juggle your time commitments.”
But there are ways to work out of time debt. It starts with stringing together more present moments, what might be called finding the flow.
“We’ve all been there, felt how wonderful that can be,” Rechtschaffen said. “Your meeting goes perfectly. There’s a fun outing with the kids. You have a good talk with a friend. A tennis match is filled with strong shots by both players.”
Those are highlights. Rechtschaffen recommends that you equally “honor the mundane.”
“Even sweeping the floor can be a more present experience,” he said. “You can be swishing the broom around thinking about the `important’ things you have to do, or you can bring full attention to your muscles as they move. Listen to the broom brush the floor while forgetting the day’s troubles for a few minutes. Either way, the floor gets cleaned.”
While researching his book, Rechtschaffen quit using his watch. He actually improved his timeliness for appointments (“I budgeted more time than when I could check my wrist every 30 seconds”) and observed an odd phenomenon.
“I would be walking down the street and notice someone who just glanced at his or her watch, so I would pick out that person to ask the time,” he said. “About 9 out of 10 times, the person would have to recheck the watch.”
Humans clearly vary in their perception of time–and the rhythms of a day–while laboratory experiments show most animals have a keen instinct for the peaks and valleys of their own daily schedules. Dr. Larry Dossey, a physician and author who has extensively researched the healing qualities of prayer, regularly asks his lecture audiences to sit quietly for a minute (no peeking at the clock), then identify when a minute is up. About 15 percent of the group will raise their hands within the first 20 seconds–almost unbelievable. The majority of participants think time is up at about 40 to 45 seconds.
Most Americans appear stuck on fast-forward, even when there is no payoff. National Public Radio conducted a revealing though unscientific experiment: One group of commuters was asked to drive as aggressively as possible during a normal 45-minute drive to work while another group was asked to stay relaxed during the same commute (presumably kicking back and listening to “Morning Edition”). The agitated group arrived only about two to five minutes earlier on average than the calm group.
Rechtschaffen encourages his hundreds of annual Omega Institute visitors–including his time-enlightened former Albany neighbor, Bulls coach Phil Jackson–to seek every opportunity to rejuvenate themselves during the day. Some examples: Use a car or train ride to relax–rather than read or listen to the news–and even meditate or pray. Spend a few minutes each morning “doing nothing.” Turn off the evening news and talk to a family member. Visualize a cool ocean breeze while waiting for your computer to boot up. Close your eyes during a phone call rather than try to do something else. Don’t cram your vacation with morning-to-night activities.
“Vacation comes from the Latin word vacare, which means `to vacate,’ ” said Rechtschaffen. “A little bit of emptiness can go a long way.”
