Short Hours

   Whether the deadline for that new project is intimidating, or you have to get up and go to work, time is always running out. Who can count the innumerable amount of "time management" books out there, designed to teach us how to handle our minutes and hours in such a way as to magically make them multiply.

     The reality is; time is finite. At least, yours and mine is. Since the dawn of time man has tried countless times to overcome death. The pyramids, much of religion, literature contributions, and medicine have quite often been the outcome of an individual or group effort to outdo time. Stephen Hawking has proposed that due to an inherent limit in attainable velocity, one may travel forward in time, but never backwards. He claims that it may be possible to accelerate our rate with which we go through time. However, not even Stephen Hawking was capable of creating a world where we are able to percieve time at a more rapid rate.

     It would seem that we will never be able to input more than our fare share of data into our consciousness. On the other hand, we all experience a slowing and quickening effect of perception every day. how long does it take for an hour to go by when you are inputing data into forms on a computer screen? How long does an hour take when in a situation of great joy such as catching up with a long lost friend? the answer to both of these questions is technically the same one hour timespan. However, we do not perceive them as the same.

     Mathematician and physicist Ron Kurtus explains: "It is well known that time seems to go faster when a person is having fun or when the person gets older. This could be explained by the fact that the person is not paying that much attention to time. Likewise, during an accident, the person's concentration on what is unfolding is great, thus making the perception of time slow down."

    How does the idea of differential time perception apply to the individual? The implications are uncertain and definitely un-researched. Unfortunately, time is still an unexplainable phenomena. Many theorize that it is in fact the fourth dimension. Perhaps the easiest and indeed, only method of time travel is, in fact, our own mindset. The saddening truth is that if you truly want more time, you have to watch the clock meticulously. By doing so, you might realize how much time you really have.