You can also listen to a podcast of this Workshop
[audio:metahome_podcast_slow_down.MP3|titles=Slow Down!]
Download the podcast
Have you noticed how the days have become a non-stop dash for many of us, much of the time? We jump out of bed, do our morning ‘stuff’. Hurry to bus or train or car, get to work, and start immediately on the ‘to do’ list. Even after the daily dash through as much as we can get done at work, we don’t often slow down. It’s home, tea, maybe more work, the children, and finally we collapse in bed, to have a rest ready for the next daily dash.
Are weekends any better? Gardens, housework, kids’ activities, socialising, maybe some of the jobs we didn’t get done this week at work – the weekend can easily turn into another list of chores.
Your poor bodies and minds and hearts!! What happened to us? We wouldn’t fit in breathing if it wasn’t automatic!! And we are paying a high price for all this dashing: high blood pressure, bad backs, viruses that knock us flat for days, barely surviving relationships, poor digestion. It doesn’t even give us real compensatory rewards: do you ever finish that ‘to do’ list, at home or at work? Do people praise you and love you for your out-of-control Protestant work ethic?
I know, I know, it’s hard to break the habit; it seems to be what’s expected of us; if I don’t, what might happen?
So my challenge is this: can you find a few spaces in each day to just slow down for a while?
- How about 5 minutes in the morning, just tasting your breakfast/coffee/tea?
- How about 10 minutes around lunchtime, just walking slowly and noticing what’s around you?
- How about 15 minutes when you first get home, sitting quietly or strolling round the garden?
- How about 20 minutes before bed, just relaxing?
