Five keys to living time with well-being

Yeswe have always seen the time as an intangible good that governs us all every day. From pure sciences to social Sciences, we have sought to understand the perception and relationship of human beings with time. This year, a study conducted at the Anderson School of Business in California was published to understand how time vision influences emotional well-being.

There is no doubt that we live in a culture that associates Professional success with living busy. Those who say they don’t have time are the ones who are best valued in corporate bodies. However, living in a hurry can have some detrimental effects on the physical and mental health, such as stress, anxiety and exhaustion. He who does not have time is poor space for reflectiondeep human connection and personal fulfillment.

But the idea of ​​lack of time affects what is known in psychology as subjective well-beingor commonly called happiness. And happiness is a key element in the definition of quality of life of people.

In recent years, various studies have appeared that seek to identify the keys to a happy life. Of all aspects, time perception is not only one of them, but until now it has been believed to be outside the range of action of people.

The specialist in marketing Tayler Bergstrom has focused on studying the relationship between time perspective and subjective well-being. Through large-scale surveys he studied how the ability to consider past, present and future events as an integrated whole relates to people’s overall well-being.

The results of the study published this year show a significant connection between a broad view of time and greater subjective well-being. Life seen as a span of time where we have experienced various learning moments serves as a basis for having a greater sense of satisfaction with life, greater positive emotions as a whole and, therefore, a lower probability of depression and anxiety.

It is part of human psychological baggage to default to focusing on what we want and what we feel we have not achieved or are missing. It is necessary to do the conscious exercise of identifying what we did obtain and what we have achieved.

Our mind needs positive anchors so it can experience daily satisfaction. But, in a society so focused on valuing people for their next achievement and not who they already are, it is normal to live worried about achieving achievements in the time we have left.

The million-dollar question then is: how can we incorporate an expanded vision of time that allows us to improve levels of subjective emotional well-being on a daily basis? There are five actions that can help.

1. Reflect on your past. Today we are the result of many dreams we had in the past. It is important to reflect on these past experiences to be able to contextualize our lives.

The problem with living in the future is that we forget that path traveled that provided us with important lessons. This broadens the perspective of time and helps us recognize that, just as we got here, we can move forward wherever we want.

2. Define long-term goals. In a world that demands immediate results, it is a great emotional power to have objectives that force us to consider the future and organize ourselves in advance.

You may worry about not having the financial stability you hoped to achieve at age 40, but if you see that in the future you still have about 30 more years to achieve it, then setting a ten-year goal is reasonable and possible.

3. Practice daily gratitude. Gratitude allows us to recognize and appreciate all the experiences we have lived as links that helped us get to where we are today. Learning to see life as a continuous evolution of moments of growth and awareness can broaden the temporal perspective and increase levels of satisfaction with life.

4. Practice mindfulness. The wonderful thing about bringing the mind to the present through mindfulness or mindfulnessIt is that it takes focus away from the anxieties of what is to come, but it also helps us to observe ourselves as a point on a very long line that contains valuable moments that we may have already forgotten about.

5. Harmonize the past, present and future. What is taking away our happiness is the constant anchor at a point in time. It is necessary to see the mind as a pendulum that can naturally move from past to future and vice versa, but passing more and more frequently in the present. We must know how to give the right space, use and value to each of these points in time to reinforce that we are in constant evolution.

When we are able to see ourselves in a broader perspective with respect to time and trust more in our resources, levels of subjective well-being will naturally increase. It is not about nothing bad happening to us, but recognizing that we will be able to manage it effectively. In this way we will cultivate a healthier relationship over time and experience greater satisfaction and happiness in the process. N

Joselyn Quintero is a specialist in neurofinance, author of several books, speaker and director of Harmony F. The views expressed in this article are the responsibility of the author.