How To Lengthen Your Life

Time moves more or less slowly according to the vagaries of the human mind; it may fly, drag, evaporate into airy nothing, or achieve enduring density depending on mental states and attention.

“time moves more or less slowly according to the vagaries of the human mind it may fly or it may drag it may evaporate into Airy nothing or achieve enduring density”

Childhood feels so long because it is the cauldron of novelty, packed with extraordinary discoveries and sensations even in apparently minor moments like the first time exploring a zip on a cardigan, holding one's nose underwater, looking at the sun through beach towel cotton, or digging fingers into putty holding a window frame.

“childhood ends up feeling so long because it is the cauldron of novelty because it's most ordinary days are packed with extraordinary discoveries and sensations these can be as apparently minor yet as significant as the first time we explore the zip on a cardigan or hold our nose underwater the first time we look at the Sun through the cotton of a beach towel or dig our fingers into the putty holding a window in its frame”

By middle age, familiarity has grown significantly—people have flown around the world, no longer get excited by pineapples, cars, or light switches—and as a result, time runs away without mercy because days have become predictable and largely unnoticed.

“by middle-age things can be counted upon to have grown a lot more familiar we may have flown around the world a few times we no longer get excited by the idea of eating a pineapple owning a car or flipping a light switch we know about relationships earning money and telling others what to do as a result time runs away from us without mercy”

The conventional approach to extending life by eating nutritiously, going to bed early, and exercising may be quixotic because death cannot reliably be warded off through diet and lifestyle alone, and more fundamentally because the best way to lengthen a life is not by adding more years chronologically but by densifying subjective experience of time.

“the normal way we set about trying to extend our lives is by striving to add more years to them usually by eating more couscous and broccoli going to bed early and running in the rain but this approach may turn out to be quixotic not only because death can't reliably be warded off with kale but at a deeper level because the best way to lengthen a life is not by attempting to stick more years on to its tail”

If the goal is to have a longer life, the priority should not be to add raw increments of chronological time but to ensure that whatever years remain feel appropriately substantial; the aim should be to densify time rather than to extract one or two more years from the fickle grip of death.

“if the goal is to have a longer life whatever the dietitians may urge it seems like the priority should not be to add raw increments of time but to ensure that whatever years remain feel appropriately substantial the aim should be to densify time rather than to try to extract one or two more years from the fickle grip of death”

It is sensible to try to live longer lives, but we are working with a false notion of what 'long' really means; one might live to a thousand years old and still complain it all rushed by too fast, so we should aim to lead lives that feel long through open-hearted appreciation and receptivity to the kind of attention that five-year-olds naturally possess.

“it is sensible enough to try to live longer lives but we are working with a false notion of what long really means we might live to be a thousand years old and still complain that it had all rushed by too fast we should be aiming to lead lives that feel long because we have managed to imbue them with the right sort of open-hearted appreciation and unstow be receptive 'ti the kind that five-year-olds know naturally how to bring to bear”

Artists like Cézanne, Van Gogh, and Albrecht Dürer exemplify the practice of looking closely at ordinary things (apples, oranges, earth) with childlike wonder and attention, essentially retraining perception to recover manic sensitivity to visible phenomena.

“here is Susanne looking closely at apples as if he had never seen one before and nudging us to do likewise here is Van Gogh mesmerised buy some oranges here is Albrecht Durer looking as only children usually do very closely at a clod of Earth”

By middle age, people have taken cursory glances at miracles of existence (light, hands, ordinary objects) and unjustly assumed they understand them; they have imagined they understand their city and the people they interact with, but have barely scratched the surface, which is why they have grown bored of a world they haven't begun to study properly.

“we may by middle-age certainly have seen a great many things in our neighborhoods but we are fortunately for us unlikely to have properly noticed most of them we have probably taken a few cursory glances at the miracles of existence that light a hand and assumed quite unjustly that we know all there is to know about them we've imagined we understand the city we live in the people we interact with and more or less the point of it all but of course we have barely scratched the surface we have grown bored of a world we haven't begun to study properly”

We can achieve time densification through a maneuver that is simultaneously simple and momentous: by starting to notice all that we have as yet only seen but not truly observed.

“we can do this via a maneuver as simple as it is momentous by starting to notice all that we have as yet only seen”

To learn the most valuable lesson of artists—about noticing properly and living with eyes open, thereby savoring time—does not require creating art for galleries; rather, one can take walks in unfamiliar parts of town, ask old friends about unexplored sides of their lives, observe stars, or hold one's partner in novel ways.

“we don't need to make art in order to learn the most valuable lesson of artists which is about noticing properly living with our eyes open and thereby along the way savoring time without any intention to create something that could be put in a gallery we could as part of a goal of living more deliberately take a walk in an unfamiliar part of town ask an old friend about a side of their life we'd never dared to probe at lie on our back in the garden and look up at the stars or hold our partner in a way we never tried before”

We should pause and look at one another's faces, study the evening sky, wander at the eddies and colors of rivers, and ask questions that open our souls; we don't need to add years but to densify time by ensuring every day is lived consciously.

“we need to pause and look at one another's faces study the evening sky wander at the eddies and colors of the river and dare to ask the kind of questions that open our souls we don't need to add years we need to densify the time we have left by ensuring that every day is lived consciously”

A commonly suggested solution to time acceleration is to discover fresh sources of novelty through travel and exotic experiences (visiting Machu Picchu, Angkor Wat, swimming with dolphins, eating at world-famous restaurants), but this represents an unfair, expensive, and ultimately impractical notion of novelty.

“one solution often suggested at this point is that we should put all our efforts into discovering fresh sources of novelty we can't just continue to live our small predictable and therefore Swift lives in a single narrow domain we need to become explorers and adventurers we must go to match you pitch you or Angkor Wat Astana or Montevideo we need to find a way to swim with dolphins or order a 13 course meal that a world-famous restaurant in downtown lima that will finally slow down the cruel gallop of time but this is to labor under an unfair expensive and ultimately impractical notion of novelty”