This morning, while going through my prayer list, I paused to pray for a friend who really wants to do something, but is afraid. I started to pray for God to give her the courage to do it, but instead was lead to pray for her to slow down and not rush it.
Then, in yoga the focus of the teaching was on really taking the full 20 seconds of rest between each floor posture to let the benefits of the pose filter through the body and energize for the next posture. I have always said this has been a hard part of the practice for me. After not even 5 seconds into the rest period (savasana), I want to jump up into the sit-up and get right to the next pose. Today I really made it a point to relax into the floor and really feel the benefit of the pose I just worked so hard on, take hold. Again, the message of slowing down was brought forth in my day.
This afternoon the weather was absolutely gorgeous. It was the perfect painting day. I bought my gallon of outdoor paint for my house trim in July and have been waiting for this day ever since. You can’t paint in the spring because it’s too wet and too cold. You can’t paint in the summer because it’s too humid and too hot. But ahhh…the very beginning of fall brings “painting weather”. I sat eating my lunch making my painting plan. First I’d set about collecting my paint, ladder, etc. and get it all set up. Then I would set my goal for the day – half way down the back of the house. The job seemed small and easily manageable. Until I started. When I began at one end of the house and looked down to the other, I sped up my brush strokes. Starting to paint feverishly, I suddenly realized it was still August. I had two months of good painting weather left. I slowed down, painted each foot long section with great control, and by 5pm reached my goal, with 2 coats on exactly half the house. I learned when faced with a huge job to do, slowing down really provides greater satisfaction and even lends enjoyment to what some would call real work. Once again today – the message was “go slow – no need to hurry it”.
This evening I dragged out an old ab exercise book I loved a few years ago and really miss the routine of those particular exercises. I decided to add them to my afternoon exercise routine again, so over dinner I ate and began to re-read the book. You can guess what I found. Major premise of any exercise routine: go slow and master each exercise before pushing it, because if you push it without mastering it, you will just be doing it all wrong and not receiving the benefits and/or risk injury. As soon as the technique breaks down, the exercise is over. Again – slow is better.
I can’t help but feel God has a message here for something coming up in my life, so I wanted to record today’s phenomenon in my blog. Maybe each day is a journey to be savored, enjoyed, and learned from and the object isn’t to get it over with? After all, just where are we going? Is there a prize for ending a certain number of days? Not that I know of anyway. The day of “Ah, I’ve reached my goal, I’ve done it all, now I can rest” doesn’t exist. If it did, what would you do? Just sit down in a chair day after day from then on and look at what you have done?
And so, as another day goes by, though I was beckoned to slow down, I really accomplished a lot, and ….I have written.
Leave a Reply