I have a book beside my meditation chair that my mother gave to me. Every once in a while I pick it up and open it to a random page. Here is the line I read today: Slowing down improves everything. Read that again.
The more I thought about it…and wrote about it in my journal, the more the truth of these simple four words expanded in me. For instance, I decided that slowing down is not falling behind, missing out or coming in last. Slowing down improves everything because it is a chance to reset before moving forward.
We have a few well known phrases for exactly this. Lighten up. Calm down. Hold your horses. Chill out. Loosen up. Settle down. Get a grip. Look before you leap. Wait a minute. Take a break. Hold up. Deep breath.
In the reset there is room to breathe, consider and consciously decide. Slowing down first is a way of gathering yourself, looking around, assessing yourself and the environment. It is the equivalent of checking that your tray table is in the upright and locked position before take-off. Then and only then are you ready, I mean really ready, for what comes next.
When…
- life is moving too fast
- the conversation is getting out of hand
- the to-do-list is getting longer instead of shorter
- there are not enough hours in a day
- it feels like the world is crashing all around you
…slow down.
Slowing down improves everything. It will improve your confidence. You will make a better decision. You will engage in life more meaningfully. When you get the urge to speed up, to make it happen, to pull out all the stops…try slowing down first.
Except if you are merging onto the highway. In that case, please stomp on that accelerator. That’s a separate blog.
Slowing down,
Paula
