using incense to keep the time

Instead of using an app timer when completing a reflective task like writing or meditating, try incense. There's a great history of incense as a time marker — incense clocks were used across East Asia to measure time as far back as the sixth century. They were present in not only temples, but palaces, agricultural regions and even government offices. People even tried to make incense-based alarm clocks, and in some spaces, the scent of the incense would change every hour.