Reduce Speed Now – What’s Around You?
This was the flashing road sign that I saw on my way to a meeting one morning. I spontaneously laughed out loud. You see, I was crawling along in a traffic jam and really couldn’t have been going any slower unless I was stopped. I’ve always avoided peak hour traffic as much as I possibly can, but not that particular morning. And to make the traffic even worse it was raining.
But, as with everything in life, there is always a bright side, another perspective or a lesson or two.
So I took the time to appreciate what I could in that slowness.
For a start, I saw a beautiful rainbow. Then I saw the sun shining gloriously from behind some rain, shards of golden lights cutting through the grey backdrop of the sky. Wow!
Being stuck in traffic gave me time to think, time to cogitate and percolate on some issues that I needed answers for.
It also gave me the time for some gratitude practice that I didn’t get a chance to do in the morning, because I was rushing from appointment to appointment.
I resisted the temptation to turn on the radio to listen to the either the depressing news or the sensationalist shock jocks. Instead I listened to an uplifting Podcast about something I was really interested in and that taught me something.
What I also realised was that I could slow down and stop rushing without losing the sense of urgency that was needed on some time sensitive issues. What’s the saying – “More haste, less speed”?
And just as importantly, I could focus on the things that add value to me rather than simply filling up space.
How do you use your time when you are forced to slow down by your environment?