Welcome back after the long Labor Day weekend here in the United States! I hope everyone had a safe and memorable holiday. During some long holiday weekends I tend to find myself being very reflective. This past weekend was just that kind.

So, today’s tip is going to be a bit of a departure for me. Well, perhaps not a true departure but it is something I tend to do infrequently. It’s not going to be so much about scrapbooking specifically. It’s more of a life lesson.

These days it seems everyone is running through life at breakneck speed. This certainly isn’t anything new. But to me, it seems as though it just gets worse each year. Even way back when in the 1960s people knew we needed to slow down.

Back in 1966 Simon & Garfunkle released a hit song called “The 59^th Street Bridge”, better known as “Feeling Groovy”. It was a very upbeat, happy song but it had a very important message. The first two lines of that song are shown in the image above.

So, did we slow down? Perhaps in short spurts. But I think we all missed the real message. Our way of living on this planet has continually sped up over the years and crept up on most of us. Today, life itself seems to act like a giant particle accelerator. Propelling us forward at maximum velocity, like charged particles until we collide with a target we can’t even see coming.

Life At Lightning Speed

We all have lots of minor daily interruptions and irritations, along with responsibilities and expectations of us, that can add up to cause us to wish the world would stop spinning so we could get off. Boy, do I know that feeling!

The bad news is, this likely isn’t going to change. Technology and discoveries are accelerating, and are likely to continue to do so. I’m from a time before widespread technology existed. It was a life characterized by slower communication and limited access to information, which honestly, wasn’t all bad.

It was a time when we didn’t have 24/7 streaming video, we still wrote letters, sent telegrams, barely used our phones and had actual face-to-face interactions. All the developers and pundits assured us that technology was going to make our lives simpler, better, ultimately giving us more time. And we all believed them.

I too bought in on it. I actually had a career in the IT field so I was front and center for some of the advances. I kept waiting for things to get better…but it never really lived up to all the hype. At least not for me.

Today I firmly believe that all this technology has actually made our lives more complicated and often more time-consuming. The cacophony of dings, beeps, and flashes of notifications just accelerate things all the more.

We have gained some efficiencies in nearly everything we do (from booking flights, bank transactions, collaborating globally, etc.), but we are busier than ever, taking less time to relax, and feeling forced to be “on” continuously. And today, we also have ready access to entirely too much information (often anything but accurate). It’s coming at us all hours of the day.

Our brains are maladapted to the world in which we live. Our brains are neurobiologically wired to look for danger and stay alive, not necessarily to keep us content and joyful. In the long ago wild, our ability to sense a saber-toothed tiger hiding in the shadows and react with lightning speed decided life or death. It was literally a fight or flight survival game.

Today, dangerous predators still exist but in a much different form. That saber-toothed tiger has been replaced by an increasingly complex modern existence: balancing demanding careers with busy family life, while absorbing the 24/7 stream of stressful headlines and grieving what we’ve lost…our precious time.

Many of us find ourselves living in a heightened state of psychological scarcity – so preoccupied with what we lack that it’s hard to focus on anything else; and there’s the fear – a fear of not being smart or successful enough, a fear of missing out, or a fear of not being loved. Every day, we are becoming more hardwired for fear.

I’m certainly not immune to getting caught up in the increasing speed of modern life. This is part of the reason why scrapbooking has grown more and more important to me over the years.

Moments spent capturing and preserving memories helps reconnect my heart, body and mind with the true rhythm of life. The rhythm and speed at which my biology was designed to move. Slower.

The great benefit of slowing down is reclaiming my wisdom, tranquility and presence. I remember what matters most in life. I find myself more able to make even more meaningful moments and memories.

So how can we slow down?

Rewire

With practice, we can rewire our minds; a reboot of sorts. To take our minds away from that fear of missing out, towards joy; from scarcity to abundance; from “me” thinking to “we” thinking. The practices of mindfulness, gratitude, kindness and compassion, can move us from merely surviving to thriving, and living more intentionally and “in the moment”.

Mindfulness is the best and most immediate way to bring ourselves and everything we deal with into the moment. Take a moment right now to feel all your physical sensations. You may want to close your eyes. How does the chair feel underneath you? How do your clothes feel against your skin? Breathe deeply for several breaths and notice how that feels. Now, listen to all the sounds around you. Just listen.

If you’re having trouble silencing your brain even for a brief moment, pretend it’s a puppy or kitten trying to get your attention. Now, put it in a crate in another part of your brain. Tell it to chatter away in there and you will play later, but not now. I know, it sounds silly, but it works.

Now, find one thing to look at. Really look at it as if seeing it for the very first time. It doesn’t matter what…it could be your shoes. Those shoes tell a life story about you because they are your shoes. They can say everything about you. If they could write, they would write a most authentic biography of the person they had to live with — every mood, every face.

Gradually, you will notice a difference in how you see things: the quality of your consciousness suddenly changes. You’ll be surprised at what a beautiful world you have been missing.

These four things: breathe, feel, listen, look, can be done anywhere, anytime. You can take as long or as short as you want or need.

Once you are more relaxed, you can add another step. Feel the energy inside your body. This is the energy that animates you, and did so before your brain could form or understand words. It’s a calm energy. It doesn’t judge, it just observes. Yoda called it “The Force”.

In our whirlwind world, being mindful etches each experience into our memory. And as we truly live each moment, all the moments seem to slow down. Look within and find the path to a meaningful life by integrating what you love and what you are good at with what the world needs and is willing to pay for.

Gratitude requires an awareness of all the gifts and blessings in our life. Mindfulness requires awareness of where attention is placed: on the past, future, or present. Overcoming anger or fear requires looking deeply and honestly within to decide if the biggest hurdle in the path forward is not external, but rather your mindset.

In the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, we lose track of what truly matters. Keeping what truly matters front and center and allocating time and energy accordingly is critical to living in coherence and harmony with our dreams.

Take time to look deeply into your partner’s, child’s, friend’s or grandchild’s eyes. Listen to them. Feel your feelings and your physical sensations. These are moments that stay with you, and the world disappears around you in these moments. These are the moments we want to remember, to hold tightly in our hearts and minds. These are the moments, big or small that drive us to create our scrapbooks.

Thanks Simon and Garfunkel for long ago trying to give us that eloquent reminder to SLOW DOWN and make the morning (This moment? This day? This week?) last. Too bad we didn’t listen all those years ago. What’s the big hurry anyway? The faster we go, the more we miss. Stop right now. Look around. Really SEE and FEEL someone or something as if for the first or last time.

Take a big deep breath. Imprint this moment. Send up thanks for all that’s right with your world. The contentment we seek is on the other side of slowing down.

One Final Note

There is a wonderful song about a much better way of living “Life at Lightning Speed” by Scabaret. I hope you take time to listen. Quietly, carefully hear and feel the lyrics!

Now, go have a wonderful week…

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