"Happiness does not notice the passing of time." — Chinese proverb.

This must be the Chinese version of the old adage, “time flies when you’re having fun.” However you want to say it, the statement is still very true.

I’ve often wondered if this statement partially explains why so often it seems that my children grow up so quickly. I’m very happy and having a lot of fun when I’m with my children. Unless, of course, one of them is having what my wife calls a “meltdown.” I think most parents really do enjoy their children, if only because they provide us with a chance to vicariously re-live our own childhood.

Thinking back to my days in college, I remember Dr. King asking our chemistry class, “What does time measure?” The answer we all came up with was time. Dr. King explained very carefully that time measures change. Its function is to help us determine how long it takes for a change to occur.

Maybe when we are happy we are so caught up in the change that we don’t stop to measure how long it takes. Being happy changes us – I think that is a pretty accurate statement. If you don’t believe it watch someone who is happy doing his or her work and then watch someone who isn’t. The person who is happy is generally preoccupied with what they are doing. They don’t bother to check the clock to see how long they have been happy – they are much too busy being happy!

For what its worth, maybe its because happy people don’t notice the passing of time that they seem to live longer