It’s definitely not going to last forever.
I also freely admit this is based on a semi-proven hypothesis.
Even so, that hasn’t stopped me from diving wholeheartedly into a new creative/spiritual practice this week.
This is particularly fitting, as the theme I’m exploring this month is ‘Choose Your Focus’—Meditation HERE
Thus, when the algorithm brought Sidereal Time to my attention as a quirky method to optimize cosmic connection, I was immediately all in.
Apparently, according to the legitimate scientific research of James Spottiswoode in the 90s, there’s a significant daily increase (up to 400%) in psychic abilitiesaround 13:30 Sidereal Time.
Why not use that to my creative advantage?
Of course, the first challenge in any creative battle is carving out the time in the first place.
That’s why I love this poem by Naomi Shihab Nye so much.
THE ART OF DISAPPEARING
When they say Don’t I know you?
say no.When they invite you to the party
remember what parties are like
before answering.
Someone is telling you in a loud voice
they once wrote a poem.
Greasy sausage balls on a paper plate.
Then reply.If they say We should get together
say why?It’s not that you don’t love them anymore.
You’re trying to remember something
too important to forget.
Trees. The monastery bell at twilight.
Tell them you have a new project.
It will never be finished.When someone recognizes you in a grocery store
nod briefly and become a cabbage.
When someone you haven’t seen in ten years
appears at the door,
don’t start singing him all your new songs.
You will never catch up.Walk around feeling like a leaf.
Know you could tumble any second.
Then decide what to do with your time.
Oh, to become a cabbage every time I run into someone random would indeed save an enormous amount of time spent in chit chat.
(Note: if you’d like to work with me as a creative coach and find ways to prioritize and carve our that time, you can apply HERE and we’ll set up a non-chit chat conversation.)
Advocates of sidereal time say that the 45 minutes before and after the 13:30 peek creates an ideal 90 minutes for deep, inner explorations.
This reminds me…
I’ve long been a big fan of Cal Newport’s book Deep Work.
Newport defines deep work as cognitively demanding activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration.
It’s those activities we do that create value or improve our skills versus shallow work which is superficial, easy to replicate, and more or less, a waste of time.
If you’re new to deep work, Newport recommends 1-2 hours a day, maxing out for anyone at 3-4 hours as the most anyone can sustain.
Focus problem solved, I vowed I’d use those 90 minutes each day of cosmically aligned sidereal time for my deep work.
Sure enough, I astonished myself with the depth and volume I achieved through 90 minutes of undistracted deep work each day this week.
There’s one significant catch though about sidereal time:
It’s not really synched with calendar time and thus changes every day.
You may at this point be wondering what the actual difference between sidereal time and solar time (what our clocks measure here on earth) actually is.
I mean isn’t “time” time?
All our clocks are based on solar time, the measure of the earth’s rotation to the sun.
As you know, it takes us just about 24 hours to be back in the same position we were before.
Sidereal time, on the other hand, measures the Earth’s rotation relative to the fixed stars.
It’s tracking the time it takes for a star to return to the same position in the sky.
Thus, a sidereal day is about 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds long instead.
The practical implication of all this is that the peak 13:30 window moves forward above 4 minutes every day.
Right now, as I write this sentence, per the online calculator HERE, it’s 9:42 AM in Brooklyn and 13:31 Sidereal.
(Note: if you use the calculator, make sure you allow it to know your location).
I’m at my psychic zenith, in other words, but tomorrow it’ll happen 4 minutes earlier.
Soon, we may face a significant problem.
One of Vlad’s most charming qualities is his passion for ensuring that nearly everyone on the baseball field each morning gets a chance to play fetch with him.
While trying to raise him as a young gentleman, this generosity of spirit is nothing I’ve trained.
I’ve never seen or heard of another dog behaving in quite this way.
As I often recount, Vlad goes around to each person on the field and drops the ball in front of them, offering the opportunity to play.
The regulars always respond immediately.
After a moment of non-response, a newcomer might get an attention-grabbing yelp.
I want to make it clear, though, that as egalitarian as this seems, Vlad does actually have strong favorites.
His top choice is always Katie, our film producer friend, possibly because she’s visited our apartment off the field to discuss a project we’re developing (or maybe he just likes her style).
Here’s Vlad with Katie’s goldendoodle Rufus from a recent impromptu hangout when Katie was detained on set all day.
There’s a time-related reason I’m introducing Rufus.
Although he’s only 17.2 pounds, Katie often tells us that Rufus wakes her when he’s ready for morning baseball field time.
He has very specific scheduling needs and preferences of his own.
Vlad, as sporty as he is, is totally willing to work around my schedule.
This week he was totally cool with me heading for the field a little earlier.
We may, however, soon be testing the limits of that because according to ChatGPT’s calculations, in 101 days from now on February 25th, 2025, that 13:30 magic psychic/creativity window’s going to be at 3 am!
If you’re an astronomer, I’m sure this is all old news, but in other words, I’m not sure just how sustainable this system is going to be.
Even if the link between sidereal time and heightened abilities isn’t scientifically proven, there is something deeply poetic about aligning our creative focus with the rhythms of the cosmos.
Sidereal time, linked to the stars rather than the Sun, invites us to step outside our usual frames of reference and connect with a perspective that feels timeless and expansive.
In this spirit, although he wrote it in 1910, never have I felt the wisdom of Robert Frost’s Choose Something Like A Star more keenly than I do lately.
O Star (the fairest one in sight),
We grant your loftiness the right
To some obscurity of cloud –
It will not do to say of night,
Since dark is what brings out your light.
Some mystery becomes the proud.
But to be wholly taciturn
In your reserve is not allowed.
Say something to us we can learn
By heart and when alone repeat.
Say something! And it says “I burn.”
But say with what degree of heat.
Talk Fahrenheit, talk Centigrade.
Use language we can comprehend.
Tell us what elements you blend.
It gives us strangely little aid,
But does tell something in the end.
And steadfast as Keats’ Eremite,*
Not even stooping from its sphere,
It asks a little of us here.
It asks of us a certain height,
So when at times the mob is swayed
To carry praise or blame too far,
We may choose something like a star
To stay our minds on and be staid.
I don’t really understand it completely but I’ve learned that astronomers use sidereal time rather than solar time because it ensures “consistency with the celestial sphere,” an imaginary star around the Earth where the stars appear stable.
It’s particularly important when studying distant, or “fixed” stars.
(Note: “Fixed” is in quotes because absolutely everything is in motion; “fixed” is just a convenient label for things so far away that their movement isn’t detectable in human timespans.)
I feel inspired to add that although Spottiswoode’s study acknowledges potential limitations and complexities in its findings, he’s nonetheless a legit scientist, having worked with Stanford and Princeton on projects.
In other words, there may be something to it…or there may not be.
What I do understand quite deeply, however, is that especially for those who are troubled by events on Earth these days, looking inward, upward, and beyond can help.
As with almost everything, perhaps Oscar Wilde said it best in Lady Windermere’s Fan:
“We are all in the gutter,
but some of us are looking at the stars.”
Or, as Robert Frost said, when it comes to choosing your focus—again, the meditation is HERE—our wisest option might be to:
Choose something like a star
To stay our minds on and be staid.
Even if the ideal cosmic window shifts every day, when choosing your focus, it’s always wise to look up.
Namaste for Now,
