Sunday, July 26, 2015

Slow-Time Benefits



by Janet M. Shlaes

Do you naturally tend to move through the world at the pace of Slow- or Fast-Time? My normal tendency was to move at a Fast-Time pace, until I was forced by circumstances to experience the benefits of Slow-Time. Let me explain.

Several weeks ago I had minor foot surgery that required being completely off my feet for a week and then gradually building up daily walking time in increments of five minutes per week. Before the surgery, I was busy almost every moment of the day, checking off a myriad of items from my daily to-do list. Post-surgery, my formerly long to-do list was comprised of one item – “do nothing.”  Suddenly, I was forced to enter the world of Slow-Time. For the first few days, it felt strange and uncomfortable to do nothing. My mind kept compiling a “should” list which increased in scope each day. As my mental “should” list enlarged, so did my initial frustration with doing nothing.

And then…. something internal shifted, resulting in a series of personally meaningful “aha” moments. I discovered that temporarily being forced to do nothing provided a lot of time for thinking and meditating on my past life and current values, goals and aspirations. As I continued to turn inward and reflect, I recognized that many of the items on my daily lists were merely what I refer to as “hamster wheel” stuff, actions that provided the illusion of movement but only served to use up physical emotional energy. I recognized the importance of generating daily goals that directly aligned with what I hold most dear in terms of values and what I am committed to bringing into the world.

It turned out that being forced by circumstances to engage in Slow-Time turned out to be the best thing that could have ever happened. Being in Slow-Time resulted in my getting back on track with regard to what I truly value and releasing externally generated to-do list items that fail to align with my highest values and ideals. As I move back into Fast-Time, my Slow-Time visit will serve to leveraging my time and directly lead to greater and more satisfying results.

Do you naturally tend to move through the world at the pace of Slow- or Fast-Time? How might intentionally paying a visit to the world of Slow-Time serve to align your actions with your highest values and increase your results and life satisfaction?

Janet

For addition insights, check out the following posts:


Are Your SMART Goals Smart Enough?

No comments:

Post a Comment