Time To Hear A Person Smile

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The speed of modern life is constantly on the increase. We are relentlessly trying to cram in as many activities, meetings, phone calls and events as is humanly possible. We are usually thinking about our next task, obligation or engagement before we get through the one we are in.

We go through drive-throughs to get our dinners and eat our lunches in our cars in- between appointments. Heart-felt handwritten letters have been replaced by thoughtless generic e-mails because we decide that the post is too slow. We are constantly trying to buy new gadgets to make our lives more efficient while constantly working faster. We physically run our bodies as hard as they go on treadmills and across hills mindlessly pushing ourselves with our no pain, no gain attitudes. We have been programmed to think that faster is better and that the harder we work the happier and more successful we will be.

Where are we all running to? Is there a set destination that we have in our vision that we are striving to get to as quickly as possible? (Besides an early grave?)

I remember severely falling victim to the life of speed. I was constantly trying to accomplish every single one of my life’s goals as quickly as possible. Even while traveling without any time restraints or real obligations I saw my own internal speed clock completely carry me away.

During a four month vacation between law school I had planned to do the following: volunteer at a refugee camp in Ghana, complete Vipassanna in England, do yoga teacher training in Bali, and a 5 day 4 country tour: Malta, Germany, Italy, Norway. In between this I was going to lounge on the beach in Barcelona, visit a former classmate in Ireland, coupled with short visits to Egypt, Morocco, Greece, and Portugal. By the time I got going on my vacation and realized how overbooked I was I felt so overwhelmed that I headed back to Canada and decided to get grounded and learn how to “chill”.

I remember panicking asking myself what I was going to dream about wanting to do once I had done nearly everything I had aspired to do by the time I was 23. Yes I could feverishly write another list but would I simply dash through it with the same frantic pace? For once, I realized that the speed of life had beaten me and that I needed to do some major re-evaluating.

I realized I needed to shift my thinking. Life is not all about just crossing off your to do list as quickly as possible. It is really about enjoying the whole process and savoring the moments. This was a pivotal moment in my life. I had fast-tracked through high school, did my Masters degree at an accelerated University, played fast-paced sports such as basketball and rugby for leisure, and multi-tasked my way through errands. I would do as many things at once as possible. I would talk to a friend on the phone while typing out an e-mail to a professor and simultaneously watching the evening news.

Life is meant to be lived and enjoyed not rushed through. When we consciously slow down our day to day activities and try doing less in more of a calm and mindful manner life becomes more fulfilling and more enjoyable.

My father recently called me from Canada and asked me if I had been doing a lot of running on the beach. I had formerly spent hours daily training for different endurance events. I paused and surprised myself when I said, “No Dad, I’ve actually been doing quite a bit of beach walking”.

I could almost hear the smile on his face from the other side of the world when he said laughing: ‘Diana, it finally sounds like you are slowing down’.