“To be happy? — we must be kind. To be wise? — we must look and think. No changing of place at a hundred miles an hour will make us one whit stronger, or happier, or wiser. There was always more in the world than man could see, walked they ever so slowly; they will see it no better for going fast. The really precious things are thought and sight, not pace. It does a bullet no good to go fast; and a man, if he be truly a man, no harm to go slow; for his glory is not at all in going, but in being.” – John Ruskin
I’ve been cranking life into a lower gear lately. Sometimes, it feels like I’m going so slow that there’s not enough momentum to keep me from tipping right over…and so I nap. Or meditate. Or read a book. Or just hang in the moment.
I am practising the art of not always being productive; a very over-rated, over-sold concept that I’ve absorbed, in spite of all my protests to the contrary. I confess:
- I am a rather compulsive ticker of to-do lists.
- A keeper of graphs of things-done.
- A noter of blog-stats and views and metrics and pitches made and articles produced.
These are all good things and I still enjoy that sense of accomplishment that my habits evoke, but I’m trying to be a non-doing person too.
A human being, rather than a human doing.
Today is a steady dripping rainy day on the Not-So-Sunny-Sunshine-Coast. It’s a good day for slowing down. Moving methodically and paying attention to a much more interesting list that is right in front of me;
- The eagle that is, this very minute, calling out squeaky cries.
- The gulls counter calls.
- The smell of the yeast as the bread dough rises on the counter.
- The steady patter of the rain.
- The light wash of the waves.
- The drone of a float plane.
- Silence.
Take some deep belly breaths. Slow Down. You Move Too Fast.
Sit with your own lovely self and just be. Just for a little while. I promise it’s a good thing.
Related articles:
- The Slow Movement: What Exactly Is It? (naturemoms.com)
- “Quotes I came across..” (thepatientdreamer.com)
- Go slow – spring has sprung! (inspiredreflection.wordpress.com)
Thanks for the reminder Colleen. I love that song from Simon and Garfunkel!
I tend to be a doer as well, always thinking of what to organize next, or use my
time efficiently. I try to make a day on the weekend for rest, usually Sundays.
The reminder is always a good thing, rest, listen, and honour this very moment!
oh yes, and breathe!!!
I am right there with you on the Sunday for total R & R Laurie. I try very hard to be technologically-free on those days. Most Sundays I manage to pull it off 🙂
I decided that since I had learned how to do the Sunday-rest thing – and it was definitely a learned process – than I could learn to be more relaxed every day.
I guess this learning to care for oneself can become rather habit-forming in its own way…but I’m hoping this is the habit that will overtake my must-do-everything list.
thank you, such needed advice, i am taking it tonight and chilling out doing what i love instead of generating more lists that stress me out.
Way to go Barb, life really does seem to expand when we slow it all down. Hope you had a fine evening 🙂
I had a sympathetic moment the day before yesterday. I rode my mountain bike instead of my road bike, and it doesn’t have a computer. It took great effort of will to not go nuts over not knowing how fast I was going or how far I’d ridden. Did it matter? No. But I still wanted to know.
Oh Sharry, I know that one. I used to have odometers on my road bike and they kept breaking and falling off and it would make me CRAZY not to be able to say how far I’d gone and then one day after losing yet another one, I just let the notion go. It was quite liberating. Of course, on my bike trips, I end up asking the other women for the day’s mileage…obviously not quite as free of it as I like to think!
I do love that song and the advice in it! There is such a frenzy of going and doing in the world – how nice to be encouraged to “make the morning last…”
Hey Becca, I love that tune and the advice too. It’s so retro-looking eh?
But it is such timeless message, one that I believe we all need to hear…over and over.