Breakaway

"Go slower" has been my mantra for the last decade and counting. Some days, some weeks, I succeed. As I embrace aging, I recognize there a many things I can't do as quickly as I used to; and there are many things I like to do that benefit me and others more if I'm not rushing.   I have come to value breathing spaces, break-away moments, "down" times as much as I value vacation time. It's good for one's health and heart. It's good for paying more attention to others in conversation and relationship. It invites one to listen more and notice more and to respond and react more mindfully.   Above all, it teaches one the value of just "being" contrasted to always "doing".   It offers multiple opportunities to connect with the Divine. It amplifies one's sense of gratitude just for being alive, for having faith, and for all the blessings God has poured out upon us.  

In a collection of musings upon creation, John K. Terres' Things Precious and Wild: A Book of Nature Quotations, these thoughts of Richard Le Galienne are included:        

"I meant to do my work today -- but a brown bird sang in an appletree, and a butterfly flitted across the field. And all the leaves were calling me.  And the wind went sighing over the land, tossing the grasses to and fro.  And a rainbow held out its shining hand -- So what could I do but go?"

Our cybernetic-dominated world, our continued immersion in a frenetic, consumer culture cries out for relief and reconsideration.   Go slower. Turtles still do win the race.