If you were to ask any random individual the last time they took pause and slowed down to recognize and appreciate their surroundings, I would wager they would not be able to tell you. And, I think this lack of awareness applies to most of us seeing as it is so, so simple to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of daily life.
We live in a world of convenience and speed. Society has been tailored to morph and adhere to this fast pace of life here in North America, and the collective absence of patience amongst us is astounding. If we have to wait an extra ten seconds after a traffic light turns green, we find ourselves blaring our horn at the person ahead of us; if we have to wait more than ten seconds for a browser page to load on a smartphone, we experience annoyance and irritation; any situation involving us having to take pause is not one we generally welcome, and this is a rather disadvantageous way to go through life.
I often think of the band Alabama’s song I’m In A Hurry (And Don’t Know Why) when I contemplate how infrequently we take our time with things, specifically the chorus: “I’m in a hurry to get things done / Oh, I rush and rush until life’s no fun / All I really gotta do is live and die / But I’m in a hurry and don’t know why.”
How ridiculously relatable is this lyric? But, despite its relevance to most of us, we can’t seem to break the habit of hurrying and rushing to achieve utmost productivity, even when we know we should.
Taking pause to appreciate what is around us doesn’t have to be anything extravagant; rather, it involves something as simple as taking ten minutes a day to sit in silence and be mindful of the blessings we have. We could all benefit from trying this out.
Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash
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