{"id":8156,"date":"2015-06-17T22:43:14","date_gmt":"2015-06-17T22:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithforward\/?p=8156"},"modified":"2015-06-17T23:02:44","modified_gmt":"2015-06-17T23:02:44","slug":"slow-living-resisting-the-need-for-speed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithforward\/2015\/06\/slow-living-resisting-the-need-for-speed\/","title":{"rendered":"Slow Living: Resisting the Need for Speed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u201cWhen do we ever find such deep permission, to stop, to see that it is good, this world, this life, this day? Just as it is, without our effort or interference? When do we hear the call, when do we allow ourselves to surrender so completely to non-productive time, to be allowed to be stopped, to rest, to allow things to be as they are, and to marvel at the unattended miracle of it all? \u2014 Wayne Muller, author of\u00a0Sabbath<\/em> and A Life of Being, Having, and Doing Enough<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"shutterstock_256562716\"<\/a>Wayne Muller, an absolute gem of a human being and writer on the unhurried life, has offered an exquisite piece on Sabbath<\/a> and the need to slow down and savor the miracle of our lives for the Patheos\u00a0June Public Square<\/a> on \u201cSlow Living.\u201d You must\u00a0take a moment to read his words\u00a0today. You will be the better for it, I promise. Other writers from around Patheos are contributing to the topic as well.<\/a><\/p>\n

This\u00a0conversation on slow living just so happens to coincide with my own experience of both childlike glee and adult confusion about what to do with all the \u201cwhite space\u201d on my calendar this summer. In some mysterious twist of fate, the calendar gods have conspired in such a way that my normally densely dotted schedule\u00a0of\u00a0work events,\u00a0church meetings, choir practices, family affairs, and projects to do has\u00a0opened up entirely\u00a0\u2026\u00a0so much so that I keep wondering if I\u2019m forgetting something I need to be doing (kind of like that recurring dream I have about getting to the end of a college semester and realizing I never attended one of my classes!). In fact, I\u2019ve noticed I\u2019m slightly uncomfortable with all the white space.\u00a0Should I take some vocal jazz classes? Should I join a community service project for the summer? Should I learn how to knit? Paint? Speak Spanish? It\u2019s almost as if I can\u2019t handle the slow, the nothing, the free time, the open space. While I rejoice in the slowdown <\/em>of my life,\u00a0I\u2019m also strangely resistant.<\/p>\n

And as wise spiritual directors have told me over the years, listen to the resistance. It has something to tell you.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019m listening. I\u2019m trying to listen to what my resistance to slowing down is trying to tell me.<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s what interesting. While\u00a0I\u2019m listening for the deeper lesson lurking within my resistance, I\u2019m also\u00a0listening to what leaning into the\u00a0open spaces is\u00a0trying to tell me about living. And I\u2019m noticing some things.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m noticing that I\u2019m listening to my boyfriend less hurriedly and with more compassion, and looking into his eyes more deeply. I\u2019m noticing our family is cooking together, eating slower and savoring the flavors. I\u2019m noticing I\u2019m sitting down to play Monopoly with the boys, and taking bike rides with them with no agendas or time limits. And I\u2019m noticing how that\u2019s changing the nature of our relationship and drawing us closer.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m noticing how I\u2019m actually writing a\u00a0blogpost, the first in a very long time, and following an idea to the end. I\u2019m reading a book. All the way through. I\u2019m noticing how, when I\u00a0get home and get out of the car, I drop my bags,\u00a0walk to the grass and turn around, taking in\u00a0the big trees, the blue sky, the fading flowers, the unruly garden. I\u2019m noticing how my body feels when I do that, where I need to stretch out, or roll my shoulders. I notice I\u2019m laughing out loud, at the goofy energy and playfulness of the dogs as they race out of the house to greet me.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m noticing how relaxed and less agitated I am when I wake up (and when I go to sleep). I\u2019m noticing that I\u2019m\u00a0purging my house of clutter. I\u2019m catching up on some really good movies, and they\u2019re making me think and feel deeply. I\u2019m noticing a deep sense of joy within me for the simple things. I\u2019m noticing gratitude.<\/p>\n

Sabbath.<\/p>\n

Self-absorbed? Maybe. Or\u00a0maybe \u2026\u00a0other-absorbed<\/em> is the better way to put it.<\/p>\n

Work is always there. But open space, in this world, can be fleeting. So what if we\u00a0embraced it, lingered in it, for a season, and noticed what happened?<\/p>\n

Again, from Wayne Muller<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what it is to live in Sabbath time. To see, taste, touch, smell, listen to the still, small voices, rejoice in the simple elegance of Life itself, in all its sensual splendor. And, nearly giddy with excitement, to drink long and deep from the sheer magnitude of experiencing all of it in this body, with all our senses, an ecstatic prayer of gratitude erupting in our hearts, grateful for the astonishing privilege of being alive, free of struggle or striving, awash in the midst of this unimaginably beautiful creation God made for us.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0Image: Shutterstock.com\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhen do we ever find such deep permission, to stop, to see that it is good, this world, this life, this day? Just as it is, without our effort or interference? When do we hear the call, when do we allow ourselves to surrender so completely to non-productive time, to be allowed to be stopped, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1273,1117,1118,451],"class_list":["post-8156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christianity","tag-sabbath","tag-slow-living","tag-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nSlow Living: Resisting the Need for Speed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""When do we ever find such deep permission, to stop, to see that it is good, this world, this life, this day? 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