The Benefits of Slow Living
I’ve come to appreciate the contrast of things. Things I don’t want versus things I do. The accolade of busyness contrasted with the rising embrace of slow living.
It’s in the contrast of things, showing us what is working and consequently, not working.
I have been watching momentum grow behind words like, intention, mindful, minimal, simple and slow.
In many ways, this validates what I have always felt but haven’t always accepted about myself.
I am a master of slow living, I always have been. If I applied the 10,000-hour theory (that it takes 10,000 hours of practice plus a natural ability to succeed) I can add reading, naps and drinking coffee to my repertoire, which helps explain how I achieved my masters in slow living.
But like many of you, I grew up in a world that values the opposite. Busyness equals productivity and in many cases, this is true. But if we are being honest, excess busyness creates excess noise, becoming counterproductive.
Sometimes, the wisest thing we can do for ourselves is to contemplate the quiet.
Doing versus being. One is not wrong, making the other right. Both offer tremendous value when they sit in balance, finding our center between the two will be different for all of us.
Fundamentally it is energy, which after all, is what we are. We can look at it as the masculine energy of doing and the feminine energy of being. In Chinese philosophy this would be described as yin and yang, opposing yet complimentary. Together, there is balance. We see examples of this everywhere. When we observe the cycle of the seasons we appreciate winter as a time conducive to go within, to reflect and rest, unlike any other time of year. This rejuvenation lays the foundation for spring to follow, a time for growth and new beginnings.
Everything has a cycle if we pay enough attention to it, ourselves included.
The slow living movement honours this wisdom, silencing the white noise of busy. We are craving the quiet, intuitively knowing our connection back to balance.
