Good and Slow

 

 

I remember sitting on the big kitchen table watching my granny slowly mixing the yeast into the flour. Peeling potatoes, slicing tomatoes, dropping them into a big pot which was slowly cooking the whole day on the stovetop. Wonderful aromas filling the house from early morning. No wonder i love slow. Good things take time. Instant and quick just does not appeal to me.

The reality is that Life has become Instant, a quick fix, a rush, an impatient daily race only to flop exhausted into bed and do it all again tomorrow. If the past 4 years have taught me anything, then it is that Life needs to be cherished. To savour each day is my goal. Well, to try at least. And that is why i like Slow. Things like old fashioned road-trips, with a paper map folded many times over, coffee in a plunger, sitting around a fire at night, talking about life and the rest in a hushed voice, with laughter occasionally filling the still night. Spending time with loved ones. I want to have sticky dough in my hands - I want to knead and see the dough grow, slowly but surely and then fill the house with a heavenly smell as the bread bakes.  I want to sit and look at the waves and do nothing but that. I want to sip my coffee and enjoy each mouthful. I want to get to know the people i work with, giving those who come for help my full attention. I want to listen to the millions of stories the little people in my life want to tell me. I want to invest in deep friendships. I want to spend my Time on Slow. I need to go slow for survival.

But i get impatient and forget about Slow. I want it now. I want it done. I want to be in the next step and the next phase...but i forget there is a reason that good things take time. Real growth takes time. Growing into something is much more lasting than the instant version. Worrying and fretting does not help me slow down, in fact my heart rate is the first thing that goes up. It is impossible to go slow when your heart is beating a mile a minute. The tone is set for the day. And my life mostly feels like i am running downhill faster than my legs can move and it is only a matter of time before i face-plant and then proceed by rolling uncontrollably downhill....

I am learning to go Slow as i go about my normal day. The one thing I am learning is to be present in the now. And so i take time out from my worries and concerns and planning and wondering and what-ifs, etc, etc and I relax purposefully and I take a deep breath. I ground myself in the now. Where I am now. I pause and take it in. I savour the moment, the phase, the time. And in that i realize i give the control back to my Loving Father. 

"Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened for I will give you rest." And that is what i need. Rest and Slow. Living in the Now.

Bella