Slowing Down To The Speed of Life

3rd September, 2010 - Posted by bethcurl - No Comments

During the summer break I read a thought provoking book “Slowing Down to the Speed of life” by Richard Carlson and Joseph Bailey. A friend gave it to me saying that this little book had had a big impact on the way she thought and lead her life.  So I was curious to see what it would do for me and I gained some really valuable insights.

 Like many other people, I can expend an enormous amount of energy wrapped up in the frantic pace of life, juggling many demands, making plans and feeling  pressurised by the fast flow of life. We can get so wrapped up in the pace of life and planning the next thing, that we forgot to enjoy each moment as it occurs.

When we slow ourselves down to the pace of life, we enjoy each moment as it is, rather than always striving for the next event or achievement. When you live in the moment, you find you can deal with challenges more calmly, effectively and more quickly and expend less energy.

 I also recognised that I can spend too much time and energy chewing over past events. Whilst reflection is an excellent source of learning, there comes a point where too much agonising over past mistakes can lead to beating your self up , lowering  self-esteem and even self-pity, all of which will sap us of energy. The trick it to Reflect, Learn, and Move On with New Wisdom and Insight.

The book emphasises the power of the unconscious mind to sort out problems. If you have a problem or an issue you are likely to spend a lot of time in analytical and problem solving style of thinking, trying to sort it out. But this is not the only way to solve a problem. Carlson and Bailey advise putting such intransigent problems on the back-burner and letting your unconscious mind work  out the solution. How many times have you gone to sleep with a problem in your head and then woken in the morning to see the way forward clearly? Too much analytical thinking can actually slow us down – so take a break and let your unconscious brain sort the problem out for you.

The old saying “Sleep on it” holds a lot of truth.

So as we enter the busy autumn season, I shall be applying some of these insights to enjoy each moment, each person and each opportunity and when my job list seems to long, I shall say “Just slow down to the pace of life and enjoy the moment!”