Time famine

I came across this phrase as I was doing research for my action research project and I was immediately taken with the phrase. It's so accurate, isn't it, as to how most people feel these days; they are literally starving for time. I'm convinced, though, that what people are actually starving for is unstructured time. Space to pause and think and be instead of do. But there seems to be some unwritten societal rule that time not filled with tasks and activities is wasted. And while we are all so busy not wasting our time, our schedules are making us sick. Here is the whole quote.

"Melanie Rudd, who studies consumer psychology at the University of Houston, wanted to know if awe, by focusing our attention on the present moment, might expand our perception of time. Anything that could do this might be a great discovery 'given that there is a huge time famine in many societies in the world,' as she puts it, 'and this has a huge impact on mental and physical health, life satisfaction, depression, headaches and hypertension.' Nearly half of all Americans feel they do not have enough time on a daily basis.

When Rudd induced either awe or happiness in her lab subjects, only awe led them to feel less time-pressured, to report less impatience and to volunteer extra time to help others." - from The Nature Fix: why nature makes us happier, healthier, and more creative by Florence Williams (p. 200)