I was listening to that wonderful (although slightly repetitive) song, "Don't worry , be happy" as I was driving last week. Of course the traffic was awful and I was in a desperate rush and I found myself humming 'don't hurry, be happy'!
What a great concept. Our near constant state of hurrying, combined with the 'urgency addiction' that Stephen Covey believes has afflicted our society often makes our lives a nightmare. A week flashes by and we breathlessly wonder where it went and what did we do. We can't think of one minute of relaxing or going slowly yet we have trouble working out what we actually achieved.
This is not wise. Our souls need time to catch up with our bodies. The physical speed at which we travel these days doesn't allow time for breathing let alone time to 'smell the roses'! Or time with our children or partners or parents or friends. Do we really need to DO all the stuff we are so busy doing? Must we be actively engaged every minute with learning new things; or doing housework, gardening, sport, work activities?
Most people feel guilty or uncomfortable if they spend half an hour just sitting and contemplating; or listening to nature or music; or watching the world go by. An if they happen to realize that they are 'doing nothing' they rush to catch up on all the things they should be doing instead.
As one of the 'new age' sayings goes - we are human 'beings' not human 'doings'! Maybe we need to view quiet moments of contemplation or daydreaming or sitting and doing nothing as essential for our wellbeing? Particularly in our laser speed society.
It's often during these times that our creativity springs back into action; or we solve a problem that has been bothering us; or we calm the 'troubled waters' of our spirit; or we renew our energy levels;
I have always found that the more I rush , the more I drop things, spill food all over my new clothes, break nails/ crockery/ china, lose papers, jam fingers, bruise bits of my body, knock over glasses full of liquid, leave my fly or buttons undone, fall over , lose my train of thought , forget important items and generally make a fool of myself! And the crushing blow is that I am usually later than if I had quietly and steadily cruised along!
Not to mention the irritation I feel when I am driving and I have skilfully passed 87 cars, changed lanes 140 times, sworn at 50 red lights, narrowly missed killing several pedestrians, only to stop at a red light and see one of the slow driving, no - crawling - idiots that I had passed 15 minutes ago, pull up beside me! Pointing out that all my cunning, bravery and skill had achieved nothing except the near death of 20 innocent pedestrians and the rapid destruction of my car!
A few weeks ago I was in Fraser Island with a conference and I found myself a Eli Creek. This is a gorgeous crystal clear fresh water creek that runs into the incredible 75 mile long beach of wide, fine , white sand. It's nestled in lush , tropical greenery that is filled with all sorts of birds and cute animals.
As I was charging up the walkway to the start of the creek into which I was to plunge and then drift back to the awaiting bus, I suddenly realized that I was not in a race. There was no prize for breaking the world record of getting to the top of Eli Creek! And that in my head and eyes down concentrating on my destination, I was missing the spectacular scenery around me. So I stopped, breathed and started looking around me and enjoying the journey on route to my destination.
How many times does that happen in life? Where our urgency addiction and our 'speed habit' (and I don't mean the chemical kind) destroys our appreciation of the beauty and wonder of the world around us. (I sound like a travel show!).
So slow down folks. On purpose. Create a time to sit and do nothing daily - or at least weekly. And leave guilt behind at that time - in fact replace it with pride that you are taking a wellness approach to life and recharging your batteries before they are so drained they can no longer be recharged. You deserve this time - remember you're a human BEING, not DOING.
