The cosmic calendar: being reminded of the vastness of time can improve wellbeing

Abstract

If the history of the universe was distilled into a single year (the cosmic calendar) then our lives represent a fraction of a second. Two experiments (collective N = 360) examined the wellbeing consequences of being reminded of this fact. Both studies revealed that a time perspective induction increased forgiveness of others and self-forgiveness. Study 1 also demonstrated that a time perspective induction increased life satisfaction and coping, and decreased anxiety. Positive effects of a time induction were mostly mediated through feeling small in the context of vastness; much less so by awe or by self-perspective. Concerns that a time perspective induction would damage wellbeing through feelings of death anxiety and insignificance were unfounded. Findings are interpreted in light of literature on the small self, ego-dissolution, and self-transcendence.