Silence Has the Answer

I’ll be honest with you, I’ve been paying lip service to one of my guiding principles, “slow down to speed up.”

I thought that all I needed to do was to meditate and journal every day, and that would do the job.

But in that process I lost connection with both habits.

They became things I had to do.

Things I did with the purpose of bettering myself later on.

And if I’m honest with myself, this meant I never truly did either with any patience or presence. I treated them as stepping stones that got me to what I really wanted later on… the fallacy of when I have X, then I will Y…

But something shifted in me at the start of the year when my laptop broke, and in reading Four Thousand Weeks.

Both forced me to slow down.

And I mean truly slow down.

Not slowing down for the purpose of something later on.

Slowing down for…. well… just because…

And in this slowing down, I found myself just being… going for walks, watching the sea, listening to the birds, observing the smallest of things and contemplating life.

And without me realising, I started to gain increasing clarity on big things like my purpose and vision. I started to think more creatively and started to inquire deeply about my actions, thoughts and beliefs.

And the unforeseen result of this slowing down, was that over the past 2 weeks I have worked far fewer hours than usual, but have also worked the smartest I have ever worked… and in turn been far more effective.

Not the intention… but it’s now clear for me to see, that slowing down does truly lead to speeding up.

Now it sounds like a juxtaposition…

As whilst slowing down does lead to speeding up, I don’t think that should be the aim… as it just fuels the idea that slowing down is something we do for something (to speed up)… and in that process we miss the point completely.

The goal should be to slow down… full stop.

To simply do less, be and notice more.

Not for the attainment of anything or bettering oneself… just because.

Now where does that leave someone like me (and I’m sure… you)… people who thrive on structure and action…

Well I’m finding my way with this at the moment…

But what I’m currently pursuing is a rhythm of being and doing, and I feel like I’m already very close.

I’m also questioning the role of routines, scheduling and structure… and where I currently stand is that I believe both very much have a role to play in living a fully engaged and balanced life. As they are great ways to ensure you create space for the being… and execute on the doing.

At the same time, I am becoming far more open to flexibility and following my curiosity and intuition in the moment.

Like writing this blog, for example…. something I have scheduled to do tomorrow morning… but this insight came to me in the gym… so I followed the thought and I’m currently sitting outside of the changing rooms, covered in sweat typing furiously on my iPhone.

So my message is this… stop. Slow down. Read these words and don’t take them as true. Contemplate them. Sit in silence. Compare them against your own thoughts, beliefs and actions. Find your own way. Consider how you want to live.

I’ll leave you with a quote by Socrates, that I am finally starting to get,

“The unexamined life is not worth living”

See you next week, keep being the warriors that you are. Keep leading with a smile. Bring the joy. And be where you are.

Big love,

Joel