Vibrant, Vital and Valued

I recently picked up The Time Paradox by Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd.  It has been an fascinating read that builds nicely on the theme of the last India Journal: We’re Not In Kansas Anymore and explores our attitudes about time.

Dr. Zimbardo is well-known for the infamous Stamford Prison experiment in the early 70s, which investigated the power that social situations have in influencing behavior of ordinary people.   Of the experiment, Zimbardo says:

…even though the student-prisoners knew they would be part of this experiment for only a limited time, they didn’t behave that way.  They behaved as if they were trapped.  Although the prisoners cold have escaped their dismal daily grind by sharing with other prisoners their past identities and future hopes for when the experiment would be over, they rarely did so. …these mock prisoners had quickly imprisoned themselves in despair by focusing on very recent negative experiences of only days in a mock prison.

Dr. Boyd joined Dr. Zimbardo in ‘94 and together the duo has expanded our understanding of time perspective and its power to influence how we navigate our lives.  In a part of the book that discusses Making Time Matter, they write: (more…)