Delight Of Slowness - Self-development

We live in a world driven to the limit. We are in a hurry to work, succeed, we rush with burning eyes, sleep for five hours, learn languages in traffic jams, tirelessly earn money and spend it at an even greater speed. We strive to embrace the immensity, we try to squeeze the maximum out of every minute. Our life is gaining cosmic speed and sweeping by so quickly that we barely have time to notice it.

Where are we running?

Are the results of the acceleration worth the price we pay for it? Fast food, superficial five-minute conversations, short vacations, bullet transport, even communication with loved ones - all in a hurry and in passing. It seems to us that we are missing something, that life itself obliges us to accelerate in order to have time to take everything and even more. Speed is an insidious drug, it is a feeling of drive, frantic energy, it is adrenaline burning in the blood. However, to exist at the limit of possibilities happily ever after. Due to endless stress, lack of sleep, physical and mental exhaustion, health problems arise.

Frequent colds and infectious diseases caused by a weakened immune system, chronic fatigue, depression, depression, premature aging and eating disorders are not a complete list of the sad consequences of a hectic pace of life. So maybe it's time to slow down?

East is a round business

Buddhist monks, following a long tradition, in their instructions indicate a list of things to do slowly: study, get rich, buy property, travel, desire worldly pleasures and lose self-control. Actions that would be difficult to correct are noted separately: getting married, building temples and getting tattoos. It would seem that everything is simple. Knowledge gained in a hurry will not settle for a long time, quick money is often thrown away, rash purchases turn into a headache, hurriedly thrown offensive words can destroy important things, and as for pleasures …

It would seem that this is the solution - slow down the rhythm of life and listen to yourself. But why is it so difficult for us to pause? Could it be that we readily accepted Western culture and philosophy as a model, along with a linear understanding of time as a finite resource? This is a kind of vector directed from the past to the future. Time is constantly running out, it must be used or will be lost forever, and that is why it is so unbearable for us to think about the "lost" hours.

It would seem logical, but this is not the only possible view. For example, in the Eastern tradition, time is perceived cyclically, it slowly moves in a large circle. Every day the sun rises and sets, the seasons change, celestial bodies revolve around us, people grow old and die, and children take their place. In the East, cyclical time is not a super-value - it is infinite and renewable.

I had time, but did not eat

Or maybe it's all about the stereotypes that we have absorbed since childhood? At school, a negligent student is considered to be underperforming, lagging behind, and a narrow-minded person is now and then called a "brake". Slow is a lazy person, incapable of thinking, unassembled, in a word, a loser. Is it really hard for us to admit that we are tired, that we can no longer keep the pace, but we are afraid to look like weaklings left far behind?

Let's think about whether we are using this accelerating speed as a kind of anesthetic - a way to drown out our feelings, to isolate ourselves from our true nature and troubling questions, the answers to which can change the whole life? We are distracted, fill our heads with tons of information, just not to ask ourselves: “Am I happy? What brings me joy? Is it good with my loved ones? Am I living right? Do you agree with how everything is arranged at work, in the family, in the state? " Maybe high speeds help us camouflage our dissatisfaction with life? After all, if from the point of view of generally accepted standards everything is fine with us, we are not so scared to live with the fact that everything is not as we would like in reality.

Trendy rhythms

Until recently, we tried to learn how to keep everything under control, and business consultants and life coaches earned decent money teaching the basics of time management. Now the "soul healers" unanimously reiterate how important it is to be able to relax and get more pleasure from the process, and not from the result. Gradually the understanding comes to us that it's time to slow down and do not as much as possible, but as best as possible.

Slow and high quality is good for both work and relationships. Driven by a frantic rhythm, workaholics deliberately slow down all aspects of life - traveling, raising children, eating, reading, thinking, creativity, and even scientific activity. So, gradually the world is captured by the idea of slow life - "life is not in a hurry." Followers of this movement urge to live every day, learn to pay more attention to loved ones, overcome addiction to the Internet and television, make thoughtful decisions that are in harmony with personal values, and not try to conform to other people's ideals.

Ode to the slow

Carl Honore, author of Praise for Slowness, writes: “We turn our lives into an endless rush instead of actually living it. We live fast instead of good. Sometimes a wake-up call is needed for us to understand this. For many, such a “call” is illness, exhaustion of physical and mental strength, when our body says: “I can't do this anymore”. Or relationships break down because we lack the time, patience, or calmness to spend time with other people and listen to them.”

Slow down

Lunch in five minutes, half an hour for coffee with a friend, a quick call to mom, running from home to work, a bullet for an express workout, a news digest on the Internet, a book diagonally, a film on rewind. Even in text messages, we skip letters in order to quickly type the text of the message.

Try to do each action consciously. Why are you doing it? Do you enjoy it, or have you been living on a machine for a long time? Is the sandwich delicious, what is the aroma of coffee, what does your friend really want to tell you, how long have you hugged your mom? Try to slow down and feel every nuance.

Go offline

Endless calls and notifications coming at any time of the day or night to our devices, streams of information from TV and the Internet, mail messages, instant messengers, social networks. We are overwhelmed, the brain is constantly processing information that has nothing to do with our daily life.

Choose a couple of hours a day, or even one or two days a week, when all communications are turned off and you can be alone with yourself, your loved ones, or your favorite pastime. Gather friends and family, cook a multi-course dinner together, enjoy the conversation, take a walk, get out into nature, try to remember the taste of life without haste.

Start living

Our whole life is a cycle. Of course, situations are inevitable when it will be necessary to pick up speed. But remember to slow down afterwards. Savor life, enjoy merging with being. Engage in physical activity that helps you feel your body better - dancing, for example, or mind & body practices (yoga, qigong, wushu, pilates).

Followers of slow life do not see an area of life to which the "slow" approach could not be extended. This philosophy served as the beginning of several slow-directions - for example, adherents of thoughtful reading advocate paper editions, with obligatory notes in the margins and followed by discussion. "Slow" photographers believe that a decent shot can only be obtained after careful preparation, waiting for the right moment and a long hunt for the best angle. Slow tourism, slow gardening and even the slow aging movement are gaining popularity.

And no hamburgers

Of course, one cannot ignore the most massive slow movement - slow food. It appeared in 1989 and gave life to everything modern slowlife. Its supporters advocate leisurely and thoughtful cooking and eating. This movement has a very simple principle: we get more pleasure from food when we grow, prepare and eat food at the correct, natural rate. The basic rule of thumb for a slow food proponent is to buy organic, local produce. Cook them yourself. Eat slowly and with pleasure. Avoid processed foods and foods with complex ingredients. Grow something yourself if possible, even on a windowsill.

According to Carl Honore, slowness gives us the opportunity to calmly and meaningfully connect with people, culture, work, nature, with our own bodies and minds.

EXPERT OPINION

Time for joy

In China, they say that the best time for tea is when you are already late everywhere and are in no hurry. The paradox is that many people don't have time to live. We wake up, rush to work, frantically trying to catch up with friends, pay attention to family, take care of our health and run away to work again the next morning, closing the ill-fated circle. And the faster we try to run, the less we do it.

It's good that time is quite a measurable quantity: every day we have 24 hours. In order to recognize what is boiling in the cauldron of life, where we invest ourselves, we can depict our life in the form of a diagram, recipe, collage or map of the area. Different parts of this drawing reflect the time contribution to a particular area of life. This seemingly simple exercise can bring the most extraordinary discoveries. Indeed, in order to change something, you need to understand where you are now.

Often, the most advancing on the way to the “sweet life” will be the opportunity to meet the “bitter truth”: there is not enough time for pleasure and joy, because there is still a lot to do.

Arseny FILIMONOV,

psychologist