Stretching Time
image from unsplash
I don’t know about you, but I often feel that time accelerates once we hit spring in Canberra. I know that technically the days are getting longer and that with daylight savings our evenings also stretching further. This extra spaciousness could potentially have me feeling like the pace of life is slowing down but it doesn’t. I think it’s the looming deadline of Christmas (now less than 70 days away!) that creates the sense of time being compressed. However, this year I’m determined to stretch out the remaining days by choosing to focus on the simple pleasures of life.
Do you remember your summer holidays as a child? In my memories the feeling I have is summers stretching on forever. For kids each day is potentially full to the brim of discoveries and wonders. One of my favorite summer holiday memories is diving in the pool or running in the sprinkler and then warming up again by lying down on hot bricks, a joy that could entertain me for hours.
The trick to stretching time (for which children are naturals) is to be in the moment. Once we grow up, we can forget that it’s often the simple things that bring us the most joy, like walking barefoot on lush grass, the first sip of your morning coffee, a hot shower after a long day or getting into a bed with fresh sheets.
It requires not being in too much of a rush to enable you to even notice these simple pleasures are occurring. How many showers have you had lately where you didn’t stop to savor the delicious feeling of the warm water cascading over your skin or coffees or teas where you’ve finished it without really enjoying the flavor and aroma.
So, my plan for the rest of the year is to make sure I notice and savor these habitual daily delights as well as deliberately introduce more opportunities to be in the moment like candlelit dinners, blowing bubbles with my kids, enjoying time in my garden and watching sunsets. What’s on your list?
