It's crazy how much pressure we put on ourselves, how we so often, expect things to happen quickly, having little to no patience when it comes to allowing things to happen naturally. This idea that we need to find a solution right away, that there is no room for error. Yet our greatest learning comes from our mistakes!
When we are younger, we want to be be older, we can't wait to be in a position, where we get to make all the decisions. Some of us are so impatient to become adults, that we do whatever it takes to make ourselves appear physically older. We get caught up in this mindset early on and really miss out on the amazing opportunities that come from holding onto our childhood. It doesn't help when we are constantly told to grow up, to stop acting like a baby!
There is always this rush to get things done, to get to a certain place where we believe everything will be easier. Yet that place of serenity can only happen when we actually slow down!
We look for answers, seeking out information, entrusting our welfare into the hands of others, believing they know best, yet most of the answers we need are within, if we only learnt how to relax more and wait for them!
I have fought hard to let go and slow down, to not get caught up in this mindset, that has us rushing around, trying to meet deadlines. Most of which we place on ourselves. As though,they are a true reflection of how well we are doing/coping in our lives.
Of course there are certain things that need to be done within a certain time frame, but most things we can take our time with. Allow ourselves to really explore what needs to be done and actually do it more mindfully. Instead of it becoming a mindless task.
It is all a matter of energy at the end of the day and we ca continue to throw our energy into things, things that just use all that energy up, or we can do it in a way where we allow our energy to be used but then flow back to us. Such is the power of slowing down, as apposed to rushing!
I remember the first time I realized how impatient I had become. How misguided I was, how I had become so wrapped up in my mission, that I was missing out on the opportunity to actually be fully present and really experience life.
I was traveling in Brazil, waiting in line in a bank, so that I could exchange some money. It was hot and the queue was moving so slowly, I found myself getting more and more irritated and annoyed. I had somewhere better to be, better then standing in this line.
But what was the real problem here, why was I in such a rush?
I had been working in London previously and I had gotten use, to a certain way of life, quick service, fast paced. Even though I struggled with all of that when I first arrived, I found it really hard to adjust to living a faster pace. And here I was, upset because I was in a foreign country and the service was too slow.
Who had I become? I was actually shocked when I realized how impatient I felt, how I was really irritated, when instead I could just relax and soak up the chill atmosphere. Okay it was a bank, but most people where chatting to one another in the lie and once I snapped out of it, I realized that they were playing some wonderful Brazilian music.
So instead of tapping my foot out of impatience, I found myself swaying along to the music and actually making eye contact with other people and saying hello!
Wow what a difference that made, just the simply act of changing the way I thought and guess what, before I knew it, I was being served!
I spend most of my youth in the countryside, something I am very grateful for, because things tend to happen more naturally there. There is no rush really, everyone is just happy to let things happen in their own time. But once I moved to London, it changed me, a lot. Mostly in good ways, but surrendering to a fast paced lifestyle, meant that I lost out on so much happening around me.
It causes us a lot of stress, and we all know, that stress that is not dealt with, leads to dis ease. The way we think is so powerful, that having the patience to wait, can be a real game changer. Just like, giving yourself the time to figure things out for yourself, which is exactly what happens when you choose to home school your children.
You give them the opportunity to figure things out for themselves, improve their problem solving skills and really helping them become confident adults!
I guess it is hard not to get swept up in it, but it is possible not to be. After my very relaxing travels in Brazil, I returned to work in London and I held onto my lesson in patience and it really helped me to be more connected, with myself and with others.
When we go through life, rushing around, chasing after more time, we miss out on the magic that is present in each moment. We certainly do not really practice living mindfully and full of gratitude. Being impatient, the energy that it creates, is very similar to nervous energy. Our breathing increases and it is harder to think straight. We just focus on our own discontent and miss out on everything else that happens around us.
I still catch myself of course, I especially find myself doing it with my girls, as they live so in the present, that if I ask them to do something, it will only ever be in their own time, when they are ready. They like to finish, what they have begun first, which of course makes perfect sense, however that sense is not always something we have, when we are being inpatient lol.
I really do try my best to just observe them, and let them have the freedom they need, but also with certain responsibilities.
It's so true, that us parents like to share with our children all that we know about life, however they are the ones that are actually reminding us what life is all about!
All Images Used Are My Own!
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My dear of true, life is all about patients but sometimes in life even when you are patients enough mistakes still come in. That is to say that no one is above mistakes in life but are we really ready to learn from our mistakes like not allowing it to occur the second time. I have fallen into different victims of mistakes in life but most times I can't really tell how the incidents occurred not to about their control. Please how can I be free from errors in life?
It is not possible to be free from making mistakes, nor should we wish it to be, because we learn the most from our mistakes, as long as we are willing to xxxxx
This post had me laughing at myself most of the way throughout. I remember shaving my peach fuzzed face in 8th grade and all throughout high school trying so desperately to grow a beard. Not sure if it was ironic or beneficial that when I could actually grow a full beard around 18-20 years old, I was balding fairly fast🤣 My desire to look older and faster had been fully realized by 20 years old. 😅
Living in Las Vegas does not lend well to the hurry hurry hustle and bustle mindset of Las Vegas, even the vacationing tourists are going faster than the locals.
Thanks for the reminder and allowing myself to laugh at myself this morning!
Morning btw...
Yeah we all had our ways of trying to appear older, where as now most of us just want to keep hold of our inner child. Happy to think I made you laugh xxx
This is true. It is nice just regaining sensations I haven't had since I was younger with less mental blocks and traumas, with my health returning from the process of letting go of stress I can not control.
External circumstances where I thought I lost important things of value only is leading me to regaining the sensations that made being a child awesome.
Thank you for the reply!
😀
So true!
Thank you xxxx
I love this. Let your timeline unfold naturally. When we rush, it is only because we have attached to a certain outcome. All of life is hit or miss, that is natural. Go with the "misses" which often turn out to be hits after all.
Exactly, we just have to trust the flow xxx
This gonna speak to a lot of people, I can feel it!
Thanks my friend, I hope it does xxxx
Hello wonderful reflection this century has been characterized by an accelerated pace in each of the things we do, it seems untrue that the pandemic came to stop just the speed of daily life and to give us back a little perspective, because many people were out of their routine life where everything should be done very quickly, I have friends who told me that they had never noticed the decor of your home or the way your partner behaved or did things because everything was always very fast. I think the positive side of all this is that we have learned, some more than others, that everything has its time and its moment and that the hurry only leaves us tired. In the speed we spend the years without savoring life, how right you are that we must learn to wait.
While it is true that people learned to live quickly we can also learn to take things slowly, I believe that this should be a fundamental learning, not all of us are able to follow an accelerated pace of life especially when you realize that in the speed you fail to really value and enjoy the best things in life. I used to work without rest and be so busy and everything was so fast that one day I realized that I was even neglecting my own life and that the days did not count for the moments but for the hours in which I thought I was productive. I think that speed consumes us and we are rarely able to realize it. Very good post, I learn a lot from your writings.
While it is true that people learned to live quickly we can also learn to take things slowly, I believe that this should be a fundamental learning, not all of us are able to follow an accelerated pace of life especially when you realize that in the speed you fail to really value and enjoy the best things in life. I used to work without rest and be so busy and everything was so fast that one day I realized that I was even neglecting my own life and that the days did not count for the moments but for the hours in which I thought I was productive. I think that speed consumes us and we are rarely able to realize it. Very good post, I learn a lot from your writings.