11 SEPTEMBER 2023 SLOWING DOWN

I have learned to be content with little things, the small, everyday miracles in a life of constant uncertainty. So much of our younger years are wasted in the driven striving to achieve some big thing. Whether it is the coveted job, the grand house, the prestigious position, the impressive automobile, or the six figure income, people clammer over one another in a frantic race to reach the top of a proverbial mountain. Sometimes, a lucky few get there. They win the great lottery in a world where many know only lack and limitation. A period of ecstasy fills them briefly. The big prize has been achieved. They revel in a sense of invincible power when they arrive at that mythical place over the rainbow, where they believe their happiness resides. Eventually, like Humpty Dumpty, they take a great fall, shattering like a plate of glass. It is at this point that the lucky ones have an epiphany. They suddenly see life from a new perspective, reflecting off of the broken fragments of their lives. They begin to see good, birthed from the pain and the labor of life.

I have found contentment in the trivial, the mundane, and the insignificant. More importantly, I have ceased to make my happiness dependent upon outer things of which I have no control. I no longer have expectations, but allow Life to bring each day, what it will. Be careful what you ask for. In letting go of the need to control my future, allowing instead, the guidance of my inner wisdom, I have found peace. I have eliminated the making of mistakes, those miscalculations when I allowed my mind to rule, instead of my heart.

I move more slowly now, like a senior citizen; because truth be told, I am that. Training my mind to slow down, in order to keep pace with my body, is sometimes challenging. My mind still wants to run amok, but my body, not so subtly, reminds me to savor this part of my journey. When I stop resisting, giving each moment its rightful place of honor, I feel overwhelming peace – peace that has eluded me for too long. It is the little things now, uninvited moments that appear on their own, that provide me with immense happiness. It is scenery that can only be viewed by slowing down.