I have been wanting to slow down lately but nothing in ‘this’ world supports slowing down. Except maybe the ‘Universe’ :)
The other day I went for a lunch party to a restaurant. This restaurant is known for its unlimited food (bite sized portions of food are served every now and then- Indian thali meal). Oh my god! The amount of bombarding of food! I hadn’t even finished my earlier portion when the server served in the next portion. They didn’t even let us eat or enjoy the meal or even talk. The servers just kept coming in and asking us for more food. I don’t want to complain but this is what happened –there was no real “enjoying the food”. Don’t get me wrong, even I have been guilty of watching TV or talking while eating instead of enjoying the meal in mindfulness and eventually rushing through the simple things of life. I’m in a dilemma! At workplace, its like I should have finished the work yesterday. There is no such thing as slowing down, just rush, rush, rush! But when the brief moment arrives, like this, when sitting in contemplation or when I am in meditation and there is that teeny weeny space created in the mind, some "emptiness" is generated (empty here is not a bad empty but in a good way), some useful thoughts come in automatically. There is rejuvenation of self. I feel revived, lot more energetic. The breathing becomes slower. And I wonder if I can sustain this for long, is it possible to survive in this fast paced materialistic world? Is there space for space?? What does a person do in such a situation? How can a person find the space? Well it’s difficult, I can tell you that. But a good start is I guess to practice mindfulness - to be present and aware of the current activity we are doing or we could go within ourselves and observe our own body -- this would slow down the mind and bring some space. Anyway I won’t talk much about mindfulness since there is lots out there on how to practice mindfulness. There is also the master teacher – Thich Nhat Hanh – guru of mindfulness. If you wish to know how to bring space and peace, practice meditation and mindfulness. So anyway, an iota of space observed during the rush hour madness of the day gives a feeling like no other. Leaves you with wanting more, greedy for more. Ok not greed. Because that again is against the idea of slowing down, reeks of grabbing. Supposedly, everything will come to you whenever you ‘need’ it and not ‘want’ it. And we need only our "needs" to be satisfied, really speaking and that is enough to make us happy and peaceful. But how does one go about one’s life with expanding that iota of feeling good when slowing down? How can we have more such moments? I mean let’s face it, there are the outputs (at job or otherwise) that should have been provided yesterday and actually we are infact late today. Do we just ignore the deadline or the people by being an ostrich and put our head in the sand? To hell with the job?! Run away? Quit?! Ok. So no "conversations" happened with God yet (Neale Donald Walsh style) and no questions got answered yet. Right now all I can think of is ‘take it slow’ and forget about others or maybe find another job. |
AuthorThis is a blog about my thoughts, my journey in life, insights I have had, help that I have received spiritually or otherwise, pretty much anything... Archives
November 2021
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