Quantum Time and You

Quantum Time and You
  
I asked my husband an hour ago, "Are you aware that time doesn't actually exist like we think it does? I mean in physics."
 
He said, "Sort of."
 
So, you may be sort of aware that time isn't at all how we generally think of it. Or perhaps not at all, and this will be brand new.
 
I follow a few physics-type accounts on Instagram, and every now and then they post things about time and what they call quantum time. In physics, time doesn't really exist. Past, present, and future co-exist altogether. WHAAATT!!?
 
Now, I am vastly simplifying it, and if there are any actual quantum physicists out there reading this, I feel like I'll need to apologize in advance for my dangerously small amount of understanding. However, I do have a point about how we experience time that I think can be helpful for a lot of people. It's been very helpful for me.
 
If time doesn't exist in reality outside of human experience, what is it that we feel and we notice, and what is it that we are often running around to try to get more of?
 
Bring your attention to the room around you or wherever you are reading this, and notice what is now. Put your attention on Now. There's always a Now. It never ends. It never changes. It's just here. Now.
 
The Now you are noticing has been here since the "beginning of time". It just is.
 
Everything happens inside of Now. The sun rises and sets inside of Now. You sit here and breathe, and your heart beats inside of Now. Everything that has ever happened has happened in this one never-ending Now moment.
 
In order to create a past and a future and have a sense of what came before and what might come next, our brains actually string together the perception of a series of Now moments. It creates the passage of time as a psychological and neurological construct.
 
This is similar to how we gather raw visual and auditory data, fill in gaps, synthesize it together and create an image with sound to make a world in which we can navigate and live. Without our brain's integrating activities, we wouldn't be able to function in the sea of raw data that bombards us all the time.
 
We can expand and contract time if we wish, and we do it unconsciously all the time.
 
If we are in a hurry, time seems to be rushing by, and there's no time at all for anything. We spin faster and faster in an attempt to somehow buy ourselves more time.
 
If we slow down and are maybe bored or are forced to wait for something, or we are in line to renew our driver's license, time creeps along, screeching to a halt.
 
Ever enjoyed spending time with someone so much that an hour just blinks by? Or you wanted to be doing something different so that a minute seemed like an eon?
 
I've experienced a very enjoyable moment with someone that seemed like a lifetime.
 
What do you make of that?
 
To explain the subjectivity of time, Albert Einstein once said: "Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity". 
 
My husband used to have a t-shirt with this quote. It had a picture of Einstein on it, not the pretty girl. I thought that was funny.
 
Since time, as we experience it, is a function of our brains ordering reality so we can function linearly, time expands and contracts depending on our thinking about it. It also changes depending on how fast or slow our internal speed is.
 
Please note: internal speed is distinct from external speed. It's our speed inside. I can be sitting perfectly still and spinning like crazy in my mind, or I can be moving through a variety of tasks quickly with a very slow internal feeling.
 
Unsurprisingly, since we are creating our sense of time anyway, the slower we go internally, the more we feel that we have all the time in the world. As we speed up, so does our sense of how much time we have.
 
When we are slowed down to what I call the speed of life, we have all the time. Now. All time exists Now. Time expands.
 
When we rush around and think very fast, time contracts, and we say things like "I'm way too busy; I have no time." Because that is what it feels like to rush around.
 
If you are up for it, experiment with this for yourself.
 
See what happens if you slow down or speed up. Internally. You can get a lot done by slowing down inside. See if you can experience time expanding or contracting.
 
Maybe start with remembering times where time seemed to operate differently for you than strictly linear. Where it just dragged on and on, or where it seemed to last forever and was timeless and energizing. Or maybe it went by in a blink!
 
Have fun and stay curious! Until next time.
 

With Love, 

Sara Joy
 

Upcoming Events

The Listening World Summit - 
At The Listening World Summit (May 23–25, 2026), voices from around the world come together to explore the power of deep listening - in our relationships, our communities, and within ourselves. We would love for you to be part of this global listening community ❤️ I'm presenting again this year!

Join us online from anywhere FREE!: https://thelisteningworld.com/2026-en/onlineregistration/
Or join us in-person in Prague: https://thelisteningworld.com/


More Content Like This

Wondering what Sara Joy is seeing fresh and new each day? Check out the Daily Muse - https://www.liveyouralivelife.com/daily-muse

The Listening World Podcast - A World That Listens: Experiences in Deep Listening - Join Sara Joy O'Neill from The Listening World in conversations with thought leaders, fresh voices, and others about truly listening from the inside-out. You find the podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3omzBIBBbKFslA5zpcUQiG?si=5d06e5a77e444115
 or on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZLFZ7J18RnM?si=qN4uxv6hqevzriu0