The world we live in is so fast paced we are struggling to keep up but do we need to keep up? Is slowing down the answer to go fast. I tried the fast pace, racing throughout my day, stressed to the hilt or eating my lunch driving down the motorway. If you gave me thirty things to do I wanted forty but was I afraid to slow down or afraid that people would call me lazy if I did. I had conditioned my body this way over many years and it just became the norm to go fast.
I would be working so hard coming up to a family holiday that it would take two days for me to wind down and I would be like a bear to say the least. The last day I would be starting to wind up again ready to get back into the rat race. If your body is conditioned to be stressed and run ragged each day it will kick and scream if it’s told to slow down.
That’s exactly what happened when I had to sit for my first silent meditation back in September 2018. There was an explosion going on in my head of work related to-do lists. At that time I just about managed two minutes before I had to stop. That very first silent meditation opened a door that has helped me slow down my body and mind that was like a raging bull, to a calm, clearer body and mind that is more focused and more creative.
I had to retrain my body and mind to sit down and be patient. This all felt like an eternity at the start but nowadays a twenty minute meditation might feel like five. To this present day my everyday morning routine has meditation built into it and normally between 10 and twenty minutes. As Jon Kabat-Zinn said you don’t have to like it you just have to do it.
It’s very hard to enjoy life if it’s all a race. A sprint to the finish is no way to enjoy this special place. We all have the same amount of time each and every day and with right preparation and focus we can get the same amount done without all the craziness.
A mind that is full and chaotic is a troubled mind, a muddled mind and it is difficult to find the answers we are looking for in this state. There is a story about a very successful businessman who goes fishing with no worms on the line, he doesn’t want to catch anything he finds the quiet time hugely beneficial when he is looking for answers in business and life.
Silence and quiet time is the key to a future where you will help make better decisions, connect deeper with people, have more meaningful experience, all feeding into a better mental well-being and avoiding burnout.
Go slower, to go further.
