Keeping the calm

One of the challenges (and truly the real opportunity for growth) of practicing slow living is encountering situations and people at different paces and spaces! Ya...now in plain English 😀

Once I got into the groove with slow living aka living life at my own pace or better yet at the pace that life is "coming to me", I began to hit moments, then hours and even days of rhythm. Rhythm feels very harmonious and even blissful. I began to respond to each moment...in Zen terms, eating when hungry, sleeping when tired! There is no planning or falling into the future and nor is there analysis or stepping back into the past. It feels like a flow.

Suddenly, there is a person or situation who enters my orbit with "stuff" - restlessness is the most common description of stuff that I can share. In the beginning, I feel flutters of energy where there was space. Then, I notice I am beginning to get irritated or impatient. My strongest alarm is when there is disproportionate hunger - I want to eat anything that I can see. I am not chewing anymore. And then the deeper discomforts - stomachaches, headaches, excessive content consumption and inability to sit still.

As soon as I notice, I physically move to create distance. When possible, I walk barefoot on earth or grass, even lie down and breathe. Taking a shower also helps me. And then I come back to interacting with care - minimal words, allowing for physical space and breathing. Once I have quiet time, I use heart breathing to feel the person or situation and see the buddha-nature there. These tools help me reclaim the calm!