Walking Fast In Life

Dear Friends,

I've always walked fast! Even now when I go for a walk with my husband, he has to remind me to look up and slow down. I can remember walking home from school as a child, looking at the sidewalk, and knowing I could walk faster than anyone else.

Sigh...

Walking fast in life is a way to not be present in the now. Walking fast in life is a way to push past the feelings. Walking fast in life is a way to avoid the real that is here, now.

What if we all slowed down? You've heard of the "slow movement?" Slowing down is spiritual practice. When we slow down, we begin to notice. Yes, we begin to notice all that is around us - the sunlight in the trees, the early morning sounds of the birds, the train in the distance, the feel of the brisk morning air. We begin to notice the sadness that is in a friend whose greeting appears happy. We begin to notice the light in someone's eyes: what's that about?

And we also begin to notice all that is in us - that nagging feeling that needs attention, that sore place that needs my attention so that I move just a little bit, that lingering thought that reminds me to call a friend on her birthday.

If you are wanting to find meaning in your ordinary life - and who among us does not have an ordinary, ordinary life? - slow down. Begin the practice now. You'll still get where you are going, but you will have given yourself - and the rest of us - a gift.

Warmly,

meb