Slow Down, Baby!

"Once she stopped rushing through life, she was amazed at how much more life she had time for."

Here we are. 
Feb-who?Ary 1st, my 1st post for the year. 
Bang!

Feel that? 'tis the end of my writing hiatus. A long summer one.

I’ve had many things to write about- Christmas in NZ, family times, friend times, Falls fest, back to NZ for teaching dance for a weekend, Rainbow Serpent Fest- been under the pump spinning plates that have a bunch of tasty work things atop of them.

And now finally, I am in my office (Auction Rooms, North Melbourne) to sit down and write what I was wanting to on about the 29th December as a pre-New Year's resolution.

I stopped making resolutions a few years ago. It really took the pressure off. This time round, I'm going with intentions. The strongest intention for me is to SLOW DOWN.

I told my family this on the 26th December then we went to the park to do a High Intensity Interval training workout and clearly I had forgotten it as I was moving very quickly...but I wasn't talking about my workouts.

See, most of the time, I talk quickly, I eat quickly, I fold the laundry quickly and I react quickly. Whilst moving in such a way feels like I have more time to squeeze more things in; what it sometimes means is-

By talking quickly I am not present; am difficult to understand or might not listen properly.

By eating quickly I don't get full joy out of food and eat too much or aren't satisfied.

By folding the laundry quickly it doesn't get put away properly and then turns into an abyss of sheets, socks, shirts and stockings.

By reacting quickly, I get carried away on sweating the small stuff. And so on.

I'm not the only one who hums at this rate. I have also just had a coffee so the rate is sped up another notch. Our attention spans are shorter; so things generally move quickly from one idea to the next. Service is snappy, and we aren't used to having to wait (just think about that 3 minute window between the aeroplane landing and the seatbelt sign switching off.) 

When I think back to walking barefoot in India (I know that sounds like a really pretentious, trumpet blowing statement) so I'll change it to - when I think about walking barefoot on the hot sticky asphalt outside Write Price Supermarket in Wanganui in about 1998 (more roots, but same idea) I had to walk slowly- mindfully- to avoid burning my feet or getting stuck to the tar seal. You don't slow down, you get burnt. 

Walking slowly meant I saw much much more- like if you have tried walking a small child to school or day care; their little legs can only go so fast, but more to the point, their sponge like brains aren't full of appointments and self criticism, worrying about what people would think about them being late. They are more concerned with what the brick wall feels like, whether they can turn the neighbour's hose on, and if that thing in the sky is a bird or a plane. 

Meditation, prayer, yoga, mindfulness and watching paint dry all are so satisfying because we have to slow down. 

I'm going to meander to the shops, peruse the isles, and find something for lunch. I shall leave you with this titbit by John DePaola

"Slow down and everything you are chasing will come around and catch you."

Although my intention is this; the space between blogs won't be so great. If it is, you'll know why- I'm still folding my laundry.

Jj