Slow in joy and sorrow
People seem to be a bit more broken lately than usual. I suppose it has got a lot to do with the overall negative vibes that have been haunting the economy and nature for the past years and now it has just approached us, people, as well. When I take a look around me, it seems like people are kneeling desperately behind a startline with an overwhelming fear in their eyes waiting for the big bang to start the frantic race. I watch them and ask myself: is it possible to win the race without rushing?
The slow movement preaches about enjoying the moment, existing here and now. But when we talk about it then it seems like we only take the pleasurable moments into consideration. The times of crisis we would rather like to supersede, perhaps even try to drown the problems into alcohol, hoping they don’t learn to swim.
But what would happen if we didn’t do that? What if you took those sleepless nights and unhungry mornings or the red eyes and shaking hands for what they really are - chapters in your personal book? What if we tried to experience grief and sorrow just like we experience joy and happyness? I am absolulety convinced that hardships always occur for a reason and as long as we refuse to learn from them they will keep coming back to us - until we get the point or die.* I will probably never forget the words of my bigger brother who once told me: “Every relationship has to survive several ends in order to keep growing.” To my mind I am my own closest and most important relationship! So maybe it is okay to sometimes feel that I have reached a point from where I can’t go on anymore? And then just keep on moving, more wiser and more balanced than before.
In the same way that being slow doesn’t mean idling, it also doesn’t always need be „fun“. Living slow means living here and now, in this moment, just the way it is. That also includes the moments of crisis, unawareness and the relationship that sometimes hurts. These moments are the lines you are writing in your personal book and that your children will read years from now. These ink stains and misprints that you are so desperately trying to hide are the ones that make you special and unique. Just the way you are, here and now…
In the end all we want is simply to find the people whom to sit on a park bench with and listen to the silence. The choice to make is whether we want to get there while running on a fast track or taking a nice walk in the woods.
* referring to the noted marketing expert Jack Trout who was the first to say: „Differentiate or die!“
Recent posts by this author
- You are what you eat - December 2nd, 2009
- What Can I Do? - June 12th, 2009
- Nature, animals and little children - June 10th, 2009
- Slow work - it's easy, but not simple - February 18th, 2009
- Slow in the periphery - January 24th, 2009
