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I found this article really interesting and extremely well written. The excerpt below is a literary masterpiece.(other comments complain about paywall but on mo

I found this article really interesting and extremely well written. The excerpt below is a literary masterpiece.(other comments complain about paywall but on mobile I got "3 articles free" message. Not sure if they're A/B testing or if they're giving me free stuff because I'm in South Africa and they assume that online payments are hard here) "Leisure time is now the stuff of myth. Some are cursed with too much. Others find it too costly to enjoy. Many spend their spare moments staring at a screen of some kind, even though doing other things (visiting friends, volunteering at a church) tends to make people happier. Not a few presume they will cash in on all their stored leisure time when they finally retire, whenever that may be. In the meantime, being busy has its rewards. Otherwise why would people go to such trouble? Alas time, ultimately, is a strange and slippery resource, easily traded, visible only when it passes and often most highly valued when it is gone. No one has ever complained of having too much of it. Instead, most people worry over how it flies, and wonder where it goes. Cruelly, it runs away faster as people get older, as each accumulating year grows less significant, proportionally, but also less vivid. Experiences become less novel and more habitual. The years soon bleed together and end up rushing past, with the most vibrant memories tucked somewhere near the beginning. And of course the more one tries to hold on to something, the swifter it seems to go"

sp527 9y ago
Novel experiences slow down time while habitual behaviors speed it up. However, we are almost by definition creatures of habit. They're necessary in order to function efficiently. So you could argue there's a tension between living efficiently and living well. But most people never get far enough to worry about. Our world has been designed to lure people into poor behavioral loops like watching TV, browsing social media, and otherwise consuming aimlessly and mindlessly. Sadly, there appears to be a strong incentive to induce that kind of adverse behavior in users/customers.
- hyperdimension 9y ago
  Well said. Reminds me of something I read, about memory tends to remember novel and interesting things. It went on to mention how seniors like to point out how quickly life goes by, but that that's just because they (generally) live such regimented and static lives, that there's nothing particular to remember or take note of, so the time just passes by them.
- davidjnelson 9y ago
  This is true, as Einstein’s quote describes in the article: “An hour sitting with a pretty girl on a park bench passes like a minute, but a minute sitting on a hot stove seems like an hour.” What a great goal. Structuring life as a series of awe inspiring experiences. I’m not convinced it’s novelty that drives it as opposed to how much awe is inspired. For instance, sitting on the park bench with your gorgeous wife could be as mesmerizing the 100th time as it was the first time. Edit: A more nuanced interpretation could be that if you’re fully in the moment, that 100th time is purely novel.
lloeki 9y ago
This is good indeed, and reminded me in a way of a couple of musings on time that I found somehow enlightening at a particular turning point in my own life: It was Grandfather’s watch and when Father gave it to me he said I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire; it’s rather excruciatingly apt that you will use it to gain the reducto absurdum of all human experience which can fit your individual needs no better than it fitted his or his father’s. I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all your breath trying to conquer it. Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools. [...] I dont suppose anybody ever deliberately listens to a watch or a clock. You dont have to. You can be oblivious to the sound for a long while, then in a second of ticking it can create in the mind unbroken the long diminishing parade of time you didn’t hear. [...] It's always the idle habits you acquire which you will regret. William Faulkner — the Sound and the Fury
mrhappyunhappy 9y ago
I wonder if this author has children. I couldn’t read because of paywall. My life came to a slow and boredom was setting in slowly until I had a child. Living through his life makes me feel excited again, not for myself but knowing everything he’ll go experience. If anyone reading this has a choice in having kids but hadn’t yet, I’d highly recommend it. Yes it’s hard and strange at first but worth every moment. Just now I smiled at my 6 Mo old kiddo and he laughed at me. It's moment like this that make me realize what's important in life and one of the reasons I enjoy working for myself from home - even at the cost of much less pay.
- cko 9y ago
  Alternatively, if you can’t or don’t want children of your own. You can leverage the power of other people’s children. Sounds creepy but hear me out: it’s either your niece or nephew or a family friends’ kids. I am good friends with an older couple and I go to the daughter’s softball games once in a while. I’m a guy so it doesn’t look right so I try not to overdo it, but when she does well I feel like a proud parent and when she does poorly I feel bad. Not as intense as what her parents must feel but I prefer less intensity in my emotions. Which is why I had a vasectomy at age 29 but I digress.
- s3cur3 9y ago
  I feel like the idea of “living through” one’s kids has a lot of negative connotations——pushing them to spend hours a day on something they hate, etc. But there is absolutely something to be said for being able to see the world through your kid’s eyes. They get so excited about things that are totally mundane to adults. (My one year old yesterday had to stop and examine each little hole in the sidewalk as we walked.) That wonder at the world is certainly infectious.
  - davidjnelson 9y ago
    There’s beauty in seeing the world through a child’s eyes, even as an adult. Where life is wonder. Nature is really great at infecting one with wonder as well.
- ForRealsies 9y ago

sp527 9y ago

Novel experiences slow down time while habitual behaviors speed it up. However, we are almost by definition creatures of habit. They're necessary in order to function efficiently. So you could argue there's a tension between living efficiently and living well. But most people never get far enough to worry about. Our world has been designed to lure people into poor behavioral loops like watching TV, browsing social media, and otherwise consuming aimlessly and mindlessly. Sadly, there appears to be a strong incentive to induce that kind of adverse behavior in users/customers.

hyperdimension 9y ago
Well said. Reminds me of something I read, about memory tends to remember novel and interesting things. It went on to mention how seniors like to point out how quickly life goes by, but that that's just because they (generally) live such regimented and static lives, that there's nothing particular to remember or take note of, so the time just passes by them.
davidjnelson 9y ago
This is true, as Einstein’s quote describes in the article: “An hour sitting with a pretty girl on a park bench passes like a minute, but a minute sitting on a hot stove seems like an hour.” What a great goal. Structuring life as a series of awe inspiring experiences. I’m not convinced it’s novelty that drives it as opposed to how much awe is inspired. For instance, sitting on the park bench with your gorgeous wife could be as mesmerizing the 100th time as it was the first time. Edit: A more nuanced interpretation could be that if you’re fully in the moment, that 100th time is purely novel.

lloeki 9y ago

This is good indeed, and reminded me in a way of a couple of musings on time that I found somehow enlightening at a particular turning point in my own life: It was Grandfather’s watch and when Father gave it to me he said I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire; it’s rather excruciatingly apt that you will use it to gain the reducto absurdum of all human experience which can fit your individual needs no better than it fitted his or his father’s. I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you might forget it now and then for a moment and not spend all your breath trying to conquer it. Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools. [...] I dont suppose anybody ever deliberately listens to a watch or a clock. You dont have to. You can be oblivious to the sound for a long while, then in a second of ticking it can create in the mind unbroken the long diminishing parade of time you didn’t hear. [...] It's always the idle habits you acquire which you will regret. William Faulkner — the Sound and the Fury

mrhappyunhappy 9y ago

I wonder if this author has children. I couldn’t read because of paywall. My life came to a slow and boredom was setting in slowly until I had a child. Living through his life makes me feel excited again, not for myself but knowing everything he’ll go experience. If anyone reading this has a choice in having kids but hadn’t yet, I’d highly recommend it. Yes it’s hard and strange at first but worth every moment. Just now I smiled at my 6 Mo old kiddo and he laughed at me. It's moment like this that make me realize what's important in life and one of the reasons I enjoy working for myself from home - even at the cost of much less pay.

cko 9y ago
Alternatively, if you can’t or don’t want children of your own. You can leverage the power of other people’s children. Sounds creepy but hear me out: it’s either your niece or nephew or a family friends’ kids. I am good friends with an older couple and I go to the daughter’s softball games once in a while. I’m a guy so it doesn’t look right so I try not to overdo it, but when she does well I feel like a proud parent and when she does poorly I feel bad. Not as intense as what her parents must feel but I prefer less intensity in my emotions. Which is why I had a vasectomy at age 29 but I digress.
s3cur3 9y ago
I feel like the idea of “living through” one’s kids has a lot of negative connotations——pushing them to spend hours a day on something they hate, etc. But there is absolutely something to be said for being able to see the world through your kid’s eyes. They get so excited about things that are totally mundane to adults. (My one year old yesterday had to stop and examine each little hole in the sidewalk as we walked.) That wonder at the world is certainly infectious.
- davidjnelson 9y ago
  There’s beauty in seeing the world through a child’s eyes, even as an adult. Where life is wonder. Nature is really great at infecting one with wonder as well.
ForRealsies 9y ago