“Pace of Life” Decisions
August 16th, 2005Life is so full of interesting people to talk to, places I want to go, and things I want to learn that it is easy to over-book. No good!
Life is so full of these interesting things that it is easy to get full without being exactly over-booked. Also no good.
I can handle being out two to three nights in a school week, but the ideal evening is one where we have plenty of time to hang out at home before bed. Just because I can do something without burning out doesn’t mean that I ought to do it.
There’s something to be said for having time to look around.
This is a strange comment. For a while, the pace of life ovewhelmed me. And I thought hard about how to regain balance. And I found a simple ritual that turned out to be an exercise in patience and in awareness.
I began to wash my hands very slowly and deliberately. I feel the sensation of the water flowing through my fingers. I feel the slippery soap. I feel the warmth. And as I rub my hands together I feel that each hand becomes aware of the other’s existence.
Every time I wash my hands I try to experience this. And the pace of life, for a brief moment, is just right — for washing hands.
Hey! I am going to put this comment on my own blog!
In my post I refrained — barely — from talking about stopping to smell the flowers. But it seems to be a phrase that fits here…both with my post and yours!
Done. Full credit! Thank you for the inspiration.
Might there not be even more profound (and therefore more meaningful) ways to regain — or maybe attain — balance in life (not to denigrate hand-washing or flower-smelling)?
Ah! But is it so that which is profound is preferred or more meaningful?
Many runners train for a race by running a shorter distance at the desired race pace. The idea is to accustom your body to running at that pace. Could stopping to smell the flowers (or washing your hands) be an attempt to learn a new pace of life?
Did you pick that analogy because stopping a race to smell flowers is as unheard of as trying to slow down the pace of one’s life?
I am very interested in how our conception of time affects how we live our lives. I’m on the look-out for a book on how the Western understanding of time has changed throughout history.