Psychology of Time

Time has long been a mystery. What is it? How does it influence us? Why does it exist? One of the most important questions is: How does it change?

As we get older, we all experience time passing more quickly. This is just one of the common experiences that we all share. It isn't unusual to hear someone say: "It was just Friday. Wasn't it? How can it be Friday again?" People are surprised at how quickly the months pass or even the years, but this is not what you hear from children. Their experiences of time are very different from adults. Again, we are faced with the question: How does time change?

Einstein and other scientists discovered time and space are not two separate aspects of nature. Even today, though, people believe that time is different from the space in which they exist. Einstein determined that as a person moves through space, the person is also moving through time. In other words, as we walk to the store we are moving through spacetime, not just space with the passage of time. In addition, movement can also influence time. For example, if you are moving on a train, time slows down for you compared to a person standing along the track watching the train pass by. The faster we move, the slower time changes. This is the physical answer to understanding how time changes.

Time and psychology also are associated. After all, it is our psychologies that register the experiences of the months passing more quickly. There are several theories ranging from neurological brain theories to internal biological clocks describing the psychology of time, but I think it also is important to understand that time changes due to the unconscious (one's hidden psychology) and consciousness (one's awareness).

When a child is playing and experiencing life, a child creates imaginary playmates, make-believe stories and secret places, all based on the unconscious imagination. In other words, compared to an adult a child is more unconscious than conscious and time changes slowly. Artists experience this child-like existence when immersed in painting or other creative projects. Both the child and the artist are experiencing the creative unconscious, and time changes more slowly.

As children grow and become more conscious of their experiences, they leave their unconscious lives behind and time begins to change more quickly. As people continue to age, they continually think about their present and future lives. As a result, their conscious experiences and responsibilities dominate their lives and, once again, time changes even more quickly. Their childhood imagination is left behind.

So, how does time change? It changes as our consciousness changes.