There’s an old military saying that ‘slow is smooth, and smooth is fast’. I had an interesting life lesson to drive this one home to me as I made the 2 hour trip to my Nana’s surprise birthday party as she turned 103. The party was at 3pm, and I had strict instructions to arrive at her nursing home before 2:45 pm, so we could all be ready to surprise her when she came into room.
I was running late, and so I jumped in the car and made up time by going over the speed limit for most of the way. This caused me quite a bit of stress as I really don’t like doing this - but I couldn’t be late for my Nana! I sped along in the fast lane for the whole journey, and after white-knuckling it for nearly two hours I finally arrived a nervous wreck - and only 5 minutes earlier than satnav had predicted! It was ridiculous. All those people you see haring along the road, dodging and weaving through the traffic and causing everyone around them to feel anxious and angry don’t get there much quicker than anyone else.
The funny thing was I then had to wait around until 3.15pm as Nana had to go to the bathroom at the last minute, so the whole rush was all for nothing! It showed me just how futile it is to rush, that life goes at its own pace and there is a sacred harmony to it all. Lau Tsu summed it up simply;
"Nature does not hurry, yet all is accomplished".
We humans on the other hand are so dominated by the tyranny of the calendar and the clock, we constantly choose to paddle upstream, forcing things according to our illusory conceptions of time rather than going with the flow of life. Rushing not only makes little difference to arrival times, it also is extremely detrimental to the human nervous system. It puts us under so much stress that it’s simply not worth it. Stress causes certain parts of our brain to shut down so we are less able to make good decisions and are far more likely to make mistakes - hence the old military adage. This of course end up slowing us down so it is totally self-sabotaging. Science shows that the slightest micro stress can stop us from being able to problem solve, learn, digest or even feel love for others. The most evolved part of our brain, the prefrontal cortex, shuts down when we are in fight-or-flight, restricting not only our cognitive capabilities but our ability to feel empathy, love and compassion. Rushing actually stops us from feeling love and connection.
And of course, being in a hurry totally gets in the way of our enjoyment of life. Rushing defeats the whole purpose of living in a way, which is to feel the pleasure of the present moment. It causes us to sacrifice our inner journey for the outer one - by getting so caught up in the external focus of achieving our goals as quickly as possible we forget that our purpose is to be mindful in the moment, connected with all of life. As Eckhart Tolle says; “ Stress is caused by being here but wanting to be there.”
When we are stressed we can’t enjoy the now because we are totally in our heads, anxiously hurrying towards an imagined future that never comes, because there is only ever the present moment. By not allowing ourselves the time to slow down and smell the roses we rob ourselves of the beauty and grandeur of life - just to gain an extra couple of minutes in our day. My Nana’s 103rd birthday will always remind me of just how futile it is to rush - and at her age I bet she would agree with me.
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