I found myself at a bonfire last month explaining to one of my best friends, Ted, that I live my life according to the currency of experience. I admitted I don’t do much motivated by money. I live my life in a way that enriches my wealth of experience. In this post, I explain why and uncover evidence as to why this perception of life has unexpected benefits.
Essentially time perception researchers agree. There are two ways to perceive that you are living a longer life.
- Live a very boring life. Act like you are stranded on an international air flight with nothing to do.
- Live a very novel life. Try new things all the time and go to new places.
I will allow you to guess which I use:
My children are taking pictures of me from their perch in the shopping cart.
The man in the green sweater is judging us and I am not aware and now that I am aware I do not care.
In the end, I did purchase this coat because it is so slick and novel.
Perception of a Long Life
The whole reason for this post is so that you go and listen to a Podcast created by Sindhu Gnanasambandan. titled The Secret to a Long Life.
http://www.wnycstudios.org/story/secret-long-life/
So go listen to that right now, or watch it on YouTube right here. Whatever floats your chicken boat.
My Reaction to This Episode
I listened to this Radiolab episode while I was mowing the lawn. Then I listened to it again during my son’s swimming lesson at the YMCA. Ever since listening to this episode, I don’t go and just watch my son at his swimming lesson. I bring my daughter too and we all get into the pool during the lesson and we all swim. I mean I am a member at the YMCA, so I should have done this before. We don’t mess around with the other classes and the teachers seem to like it.
To be honest, I saw a friend doing the same thing, but something snapped when I heard this, or it clicked, and then I started talking about what I was seeing more frequently and taking action.
A Novel Experience of My Own
Long story short I was jealous that the creators at Radiolab had this lengthy experiment on stretching time via novelty. So, when my buddy said they were going to a Speakeasy I broke my traditional rhythm of saying, “Oh, sounds like fun, but I’m a dad now and I have to mow my lawn and be a boring old person…” and instead I went!
Check out the video to see how it went:
The speakeasy is found near this shop:
You don’t need to travel the globe or even spend money to find Novelty. My son was given a balloon at school during the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade. He used some markers to make his balloon look just like his favorite Pokemon. He did so well that when I picked him up from school I assumed it was a store-bought balloon design. Creating art is free, it is pure catharsis and is the highest form of worship.
Creating art is pure novelty.
Wonder is all around you. You simply need to pause, take a deep breath and observe. While on one of the bike rides my family took together for a biking challenge I covered on this blog my daughter looked up at me and asked:
“Does God make the song?… God made the song because God is special. God died and then God came back and now God is a ghost.”
Jasmine Kolmer – Age 4 – September 2023
Improvement Dave 