3276: The Fast Forward Effect by Helene Massicotte of Free To Pursue on Intentional Living

[00:00:00] You can be found where the action is. In gaming anyway. Now dive deep into your gameplay. On the big main display of the new foldable Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 with adaptive 120 Hz image repetition rate. Your skills make the opponent look pale,

[00:00:16] while the powerful Snapdragon 8Gen3 for Galaxy processor keeps your back free with a fluid gaming experience. So you're in the middle and at the front. Learn more about the new Galaxy Z Fold 6 on Samsung.de The Fast Forward Effect by Helene Massicotte of Free To Pursue.com

[00:01:05] Time passes no matter what, but it's our attention to every minute, every moment that seems to have an effect of stretching it out, making it fuller, richer, longer. Forget the discovery of gravitational waves and their potential to expand our understanding of the universe.

[00:01:23] Paying attention is our own tool to disrupt the space-time continuum. We can speed up or slow down our lives at will. It comes down to choosing to either be mindful or not. The 2006 movie Click perfectly illustrates this principle. The Past

[00:01:41] In the past, I used to make heavy use of time travel by being in one place while my mind was where I'd rather be, often somewhere my future self would be in a matter of hours or days. It was an effect brought about by an almost obsessive focus

[00:01:55] on projects and deliverables, often at the expense of everything else I thought I valued in life. Unfortunately, more often than not, my friends and family were spending time with my body, but not with my spirit. Now that I'm paying greater attention to the world around me,

[00:02:12] I regrettably recognize the symptoms and result of my past time travels. Number one, I can't tell you the ending to many of the movies I've watched. Sometimes I don't even remember the plot itself. My eyes were looking at the screen, but my brain, busy with other matters,

[00:02:29] wasn't immersing itself in the story. Number two, I remember more about work than I do about events with family and friends. Most past family gatherings during the first decade of this new century are somewhat of a blur,

[00:02:43] and at one of the more recent ones, two years ago or so, my sister-in-law commented that it was nice to see me happier and engaged. Ouch. Number three, I didn't realize that some of my relationships were deteriorating because I didn't notice the signs

[00:02:59] and didn't invest in the depth of discussion needed to sustain any meaningful relationship with close family and friends. Unfortunately for some of those, it was already too late. Number four, I didn't understand that part of why I was good

[00:03:14] at meeting people on vacation and staying in touch over the years was that I was a far more attentive person on vacation when being in the moment came more easily. Number five, my personal habits mostly consisted of activities that could be done on autopilot,

[00:03:30] making room for the important thinking work that I wanted to be doing at all times. This attitude turned any manual task into a drudgery, which only made me even more prone to mentally escape and temporary amnesia.

[00:03:44] Number six, I lost the ability to play just for the sake of playing. If a game didn't include some sort of ultimate goal like networking, skill development, competition, it wasn't worth the time investment. This belief cost me in the areas of health and wellness,

[00:04:02] creativity in all aspects of life, and ultimately joy. And number seven, my sleep, which I thought of as a wasteful activity, was constantly interrupted either because I felt I had better things to do or because I'd wake up to jot things I thought of

[00:04:18] that would or should merit my attention in the morning. The present. My life has slowed down quite a bit over the last three years, not due to a reduction in its pace, I'm more productive than ever,

[00:04:32] but due to an increase in attention to what's in front of me now. There's still 1,440 minutes in every day, but I remember more of them, and many of them are fuller, because I didn't just live them, I experienced them. This phenomenon is akin to the experience we have

[00:04:49] when we feel a surge of adrenaline, possibly a result of a near miss or an extreme sport experience. Time seems to slow down to a crawl. We remember details that we'd never remember when time marches on at its regular pace.

[00:05:03] Paying attention is like developing our own version of bullet time, one that we can call upon anytime, not just in times of extreme emotion. What can we do in the moment? We need to remember to remember. When I remember to remember,

[00:05:20] I immediately take in my surroundings to better understand what I want to take away from the moment. There's nearly always something. What people look like, rested or tired, disheveled or put together. What people present appear to feel, boastful or shameful, apprehensive or confident, sad or happy,

[00:05:41] scared or optimistic, angry or joyful, more irritated or patient. What the environment is like, bright or dark, cold or hot, comfortable or uncomfortable, chaotic or peaceful, the noise level, its contents, what objects are in the environment, and sensations I'm experiencing, clothing on my skin,

[00:06:04] my breathing, how my body feels, my mood, my reaction to food and drink or other material I'm consuming, such as entertainment. Remembering to remember automatically heightens our awareness of the present. We can't remember much when we're in autopilot mode

[00:06:21] during all the moments we think are in the way of living our lives. Those moments are our lives. Our memories are etched based on how much attention we pay to a given moment, any moment. That's how our minds work.

[00:06:36] If we're very focused on something, it stays with us. Moreover, when we focus on the present, even what we might otherwise consider mundane becomes more interesting. Being in two places at once in our minds makes us less effective at both activities and saps us of energy

[00:06:54] when we finally get to be where we think we want to be most. Not convinced? Here are a few examples. How does impatience during a long and demanding commute affect your ability to get going with your day?

[00:07:07] Were you able to park those emotions as soon as you got to the office? How about the effect of spending time planning for a conference call during dinner? Did you even taste the food? How was the conversation with your family?

[00:07:19] How about the experience of watching that much-anticipated football game while busy taking selfies and updating your social media accounts? Did you really take it all in? The future. Contrary to popular belief, focusing on the present doesn't rob us of our potential for future success.

[00:07:37] Being in two places at once by multitasking our way through life is what robs us of happiness in both the present and the future. Keeping our minds in the future allows us to put part of our lives on autopilot

[00:07:50] so that we don't have to feel emotions we don't want to feel and think thoughts we don't want to think in the present. Busyness is a different kind of drug. It's active avoidance of our current reality. Staying fully immersed in the present

[00:08:05] is like simultaneously being the director of and the protagonist in the story of our lives. We get to know ourselves better and it makes us get real about what we're like and what we want. Being present allows us to make fear-inducing decisions sooner

[00:08:21] because we stop medicating ourselves with thoughts that we can ignore the present because we believe our future selves will be happier. That belief is real-life fiction and it saps us of our current potential to experience the bounties of life in the present.

[00:08:37] After all, the most important characteristic of a long and rich life isn't how much time we have, it's how much attention we pay to every minute every moment. Are you living life in fast forward? You just listened to the post titled

[00:08:56] The Fast Forward Effect by Elen Mastikot of freetoperusew.com and I'll be right back with my commentary. Thank you too, Elen. I enjoyed that movie click. I've seen it a couple of times. That's with Adam Sandler. I actually just saw it the other day.

[00:09:10] It's no Oscar winner by any means. It's got like a 6.4 out of 10 rating on IMDB But the message is clear and very fitting for the type of stuff we hear on this show. We often want to fast forward through the bad times in life

[00:09:24] like sickness, some parts of work or not even just the bad times but the boring times, the okay times and we can get stuck in this mode of searching for the next big thing trying to fast forward to that big thing over and over

[00:09:38] meanwhile missing out on all the little things life has to offer. Being present with what is is the only way we can fully learn from our current situation to make the next moment that much better. Without the bad, there really is no such thing as good.

[00:09:54] So take that bad with the good as best you can. Have a great day. Thank you for being here and listening every day and I'll see you tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.