Want to mentally time travel? Use your creative brain.
Want to mentally time travel? Use your creative brain.
We have the potential to warp 'reality' (srsly).
Hey there,
DD HQ here. What if we told you that there’s a secret to making your days feel longer and more enjoyable?
If that sounds, well, impossible - let us explain. As we get older and stuck in the monotony of our daily routines, it can feel like time flies by (and, not in a good way). We move through the same motions, check off the same To Do lists and suddenly, before we know it, years have passed.
But, when we use our creative brains to do what they’re meant for - experimenting with the new - we can make time slow down and ultimately, expand our perception of reality 👀
Trippy stuff, we know. Lately at DD, we’ve been talking a lot about the concept of time - how we spend it, perceive it, and fill it. But, before we all log off for a long-weekend with plenty of space to time-expand, let us let you in on a little secret: time travel isn’t just a fantasy; our creative brain is doing it all the time.
If this is piquing your curiosity, and making you want to live a more enjoyable, expansive, creatively-fulfilling life - our new experiment at DD HQ is calling your name. Use the code ‘experiment’ to skip the waitlist and join the Daydreamers crew in Early Access - FWIW, it’s the perfect way to time travel 🛸
This might 🤯 your mind: Our brains don’t really have a way to process time.
If you’ve learned anything from us, you’ll know that our brains are a wonky place. Think of them like a big computer; we’re constantly processing our surroundings, and using our emotions to detect important information we need to hold onto for the long-term.
Remember when we talked about the power of our senses? Well, true senses, like smell or sight for example, have specific areas of the brain where all the mechanics happen. Think of it like a sprint from A to B - the process is automatic and simple, like smelling a flower or looking at a sunset.
But, the act of piecing together moments in time? That’s more like a marathon. Our brains have to pull together a lot of disparate information at once - all of which are impacted by our environment, emotions and memory. It’s non-linear, at best.
As such, time is a tricky thing to understand - and scientists have been trying to define it for a long while (cue our friend, Einstein). But, the research does have one thing in common: we humans can shift our perception of it, and most importantly slow it down, when we use our creative brains.
And, the trick for making time feel like it lasts forever? Being open to new experiences - aka, creativity.
The one thing scientists can agree on (and it isn’t much) is that exposing yourself to new, unfamiliar experiences helps us feel like life is longer and more full. It allows us to record meaningful experiences and cement them in our memories. It requires us to be fully present; fully alive.
Here’s why: When something is new, we pay attention to every single element of it. But, when we’ve done it hundreds of times - like the daily hamster wheel - our brain stops recording as much information as we used to.
Neuroscientist + creativity researcher, Dr. David Eagleman, was the first to discover that making an effort to ‘collect’ new experiences and trick our brains into doing something out of their habitual comfort zone can help us feel like time last forever. Essentially, the longer it takes for our brain to process a memory, the longer that moment feels.
We love this POV from him:
“This explains why we think that time speeds up when we grow older; why childhood summers seem to go on forever, while old age slips by while we’re dozing. The more familiar the world becomes, the less information your brain writes down, and the more quickly time seems to pass.”
Now, this isn’t just a scientific thing. The concept of bending time based on how we perceive it has been around since ancient times.
The ancient Greeks even had a word for time-bending reality: Kairos. Instead of measuring time solely by the number on the clock, they also looked at it as a qualitative measure. While it’s difficult to fully define, Greg McKeown says in his book, Essentialism: “…kairos is experienced only when we are fully in the moment—when we exist in the now.”
Being in the now happens most fully when we’re in flow.
So, whether you’re experimenting with something new, getting lost in creativity or daydreaming at your desk (we won’t tell) - our creative brain is way more powerful than we think.
Here’s to expanding time this (long) weekend - you know that’s what we’ll be up to 🛸 See you on the flip!
Katina + Dupi
and the entire team @ DD HQ
Curious about learning how to incorporate the science of creativity into your life - everyday? That’s exactly what we’re here for. Exercise your naturally creative brain with us and make time expand, all the time, by joining us in Early Access. Use the code ‘experiment’ to jump the line for free:
An idea to noodle on 💭
Your creative brain is time-traveling, all the time
THINK ON THIS: Time is just a collectively agreed-upon story - and we’ve been repeating this ‘belief’ as a society for centuries. For example, Ben Franklin made up Daylight Savings…to avoid burning more candles. If we can literally change time just because we want to, who’s to say that time isn’t an illusion?
…MAYBE NOT THAT: Routine doesn’t create memories; new experiences do. When our brain has to use all of its resources, it expands our perception of time. So, when we do spontaneous, new things our brain gets fired up - and becomes fully immersed in the moment.
Inside our brains at DD HQ 🧠
Creativity is about persistence, not magic (that’s what we’re saying!). Where does originality in ‘art’ draw the line? Pretty sick way of using imagination - mushroom sneakers. Playgrounds are for everyone, in our opinion. Is Barbie…philosophical (or do we actually want to live there)?
Ideas from the DD Crew 🛸
Hey there! DD HQ here. A quick heads up from us: we’re getting ready to change up the ways we share content on here + in the DD Universe - so things will look different next week. We’re always here to share mind-expanding stories + learnings, for free, but we’re experimenting with special stuff for our Early Access members.
Make sure you’re part of what we’re building, by joining us now while there’s space! Here’s to being more human, less robot 🌌