As the year continues to slide by, I find myself
amazed that time seems to slip by so
quickly.
And I am not alone in my
thinking, as any of my clients have commented on the fact that we are already
through the first half of the year. And what’s more, youngsters seem to find
time passes quickly for them too, when I am sure when I was their age ( a sure
sign of my increasing years) time went so slowly, a day
seemed an eternity, and six weeks summer break seemed a life time.
However back to the present, and isn’t it strange
that time goes so quickly, or at least seems to, since of course each day has
no more and no less number of hours than any other. However in my
professional role, I work with mental time, and mental space, both very useful to
help move things on more easily and comfortably when working with clients.
An example of mental space can be comparing the
first 45 minutes of a football match. 
One spectator simply living for their
team and the next match, and the other spectator who would prefer to be
somewhere different, doing anything other than watching football. For the
first spectator that first 45 minutes and most probably the whole match would
seem to fly by, over too quickly and perhaps they would be amazed that the time
goes so quickly.
And for the other spectator, 45 minutes may seem
like an eternity, every second dragging wishing for the entire ordeal to be
over.
Both were watching the same football match, and both had 45 /90
minutes assuming there was no injury time added on, and yet the internal
responses were completely different for each of the spectators. So not
only can we work in real and present time, but also in mental time. Some
therapists chose to use regression therapy, something I chose not to do, but some
people find it useful.
Now to mental space. This can also be useful when
used with clients, again it is safe and gentle but uses our ability to travel
millions of miles in our imagination, or to travel deep within ourselves simply
by using the power of the mind. When using mental space, real time often seems
to pass by more quickly.
The benefits of using mental time and space can
help the client to overcome worries, anxieties, stress and much more, by simply
learning how to speed up and slow down thought patterns, and use imagery and
suggestions to mitigate negative thought patterns and enhance the acceptance of
new positive thought patterns. And the wonderful thing is, it’s easy to do. We
use mental time and space when we are children in our games, routines and
imaginings, often by the time we are adults we have learnt to do these things
negatively, it is often just a matter of putting the client back in charge of
their thoughts, and changing perspectives.
Once we learn to do this we can
live life more comfortably so life does not have to be like the uninterested
spectator at the football match, or even perhaps the first spectator.
With
effective changes, you may even feel like one of the players in the match!
