Your brain’s clock responds to how you pay attention to people. Presence literally stretches time – not metaphorically, mechanically. Traffic crawls, good conversations vanish.
The story
Your brain’s clock isn’t broken – it’s just way more flexible than you think.
When you’re stuck in traffic or suffering through a terrible meeting, time crawls. When you’re deep in conversation with someone you care about, hours vanish. That’s not a bug. That’s your internal clock adapting to what matters in the moment.
Scott Howard Swain’s Chapter 23 in “A Practical EmPath” digs into something most time management advice completely misses: you can actually slow down time by how you pay attention to other people.
Here’s what the chapter shows about hacking your time perception:
1. Presence stretches your perception of time
When you’re fully present and focused, your brain processes information differently. Focus fully on something and time compresses or expands based on your attention.
2. Attention is the control knob
Your internal state shapes how you experience duration. Which means presence isn’t just nice – it’s mechanically how you stretch moments.
3. Cognitive empathy changes your time experience
Understanding another person’s perspective doesn’t just improve relationships. It changes how your brain processes duration, making moments feel more expansive.
4. Specific practices create this effect
The chapter outlines concrete techniques: mindful eating [fully savoring the sensory experience of food], meditation [focusing completely on a single activity], and slow movement practices like Tai Chi to enhance neurological pathways and foster the ability to perceive subtle changes.
5. You’re already doing this without knowing it
The trick is doing it intentionally in
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