Do you ever look back to some event and try to recall when it happened and then realize it wasn’t a year ago, it was three years ago?
Or not three but ten!
In the book, Moonwalking with Einstein, The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, author Joshua Foer says the way to slow that phenomena down is to fill our lives with more variety.
I can’t say that I read the book but Anne did, and read passages to me as we were traveling on one of our trips last year. (Or was it the year before?)
According to Foer, it’s the routine of our lives that collapses our perception of passing time. Having a sprinkling of events that stand out makes the memory fuller and helps us to separate periods and “mini-epochs.”
(That’s my term, not his, but it works.)
I suppose it stands to reason that experiencing more variety would make our lives seem fuller, when in fact they are fuller. Still, it’s an interesting bit of nature to know about.
As it happens, though Anne and I just returned from Oregon two weeks ago, as of tomorrow we’re going to Spain! For three weeks!!
Our friends Louis and Lisa (frequent commenters on this blog) live there. But they sometimes travel here, and offered us their place while they’re gone. (We offered ours in return, but they didn’t need it.)
So, it’ll be a new adventure for us. Though we’ve been to many Spanish-speaking countries, some numerous times, we’ve never been to the motherland.
I’m not sure if all this will make life longer, but maybe it’ll help it from seeming to go by quite so fast.
Certainly it makes life fuller.
Before leaving, we visited my parents. It’s Dad’s birthday today. He’s 97.
They’ve had such a full life; for them time just keeps going and going.
Our Lives Together
Its About Life
5:04 am
Have a great trip!
7:30 am
Love the Shanks…Go enjoy Louis and Lisa’s place! Relax, paint, slowdown and Praise God for friends that let you visit, even when they aren’t there to host you! What a fun adventure….And Happy Birthday to your Dad, wow..97!
8:07 am
Yes, go with our blessing, Hyatt and Anne. May our God surround you with his Ferocious Love, and draw you two into the moment with Him. In your company, in your creating, in your crossing paths with others, may your longing hearts be filled and satisfied. Dios le bendice!
8:15 am
Enjoy Pilar and Juan Maria in Madrid! So glad you get this trip. See my post today for sweet pics of Daddy. http://www.welcomeheart.com
8:27 am
Routine is good, like having yearly family vacations, but the destinations should vary. We met an elderly couple at a campsite last month who said, “We’ve been coming here every year for the past 45 years!” We felt deeply sorry for them.
In the past few years we have enjoyed 12-15 person family vacations in California, Jasper National Park, Brazil, Saskatchewan, Okanagan British Columbia, Tennessee, Idaho, and this summer in Mexico! May God help us all to fill our lives with a great variety of good things.
Jack
9:43 am
Have a great time….blessings to you and Anne
11:22 pm
Yes! Have a great trip!
4:04 am
Have a blessed and rewarding trip, Lord make it a standout experience for the both of you!
12:33 pm
Dear Hyatt & Anne,
Checked out the picture of your dad, on your sister’s
blog! He looks so strong & sweet!
Hope you get to see many new things or people that you
can use in your art work!
Barbara Mitchiner :-)
4:25 pm
Welcome to Europe!
12:02 am
Thanks, Ken. Nice to be on your continent. You’re in Ireland, I’m in Spain, maybe we’ll bump into each other :-)