October 8, 2008

There Is More To Life Than Increasing Its Speed


"There is more to life than increasing its speed"
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948)


Challenging times call for challenging the way we view life. Our natural instinct, when we perceive danger and crisis, is to speed up, try to escape, run away or attack...this works well if you are confronting an aggressive wild animal, but not so well if your "wild animal" looks like economic uncertainty, 24-7 technology, or lack of job security. As counterintuitive as it may seem, research supports mindfully slowing down in times of crisis to decrease the harmful physical effects of stress, increase mental focus and productivity and to regain a sense of internal equilibrium. While we cannot always change external forces in our lives, we can focus on skills to build our resiliency, slowing down, taking a breath, and challenging ourselves to create new ways of viewing life.

What are your thoughts about building resiliency during challenging times?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I have so much to say on slow living that i have a whole blog on it.

www.restingintheslowlane.blogspot.com