Being a Tortoise in a Harry World

 On facebook a friend said, 'I wish the pace of life would slow down.'  Me too. Being in Colorado for five days where the pace of life IS slower, I found that my life is moving faster than I'd like.  I'm still trying to figure out how we packed in so much fun, yet never felt rushed.  One day we had coffee while we walked by the river. Then we walked through town.  We packed lunches and drove into the mountains to visit a ghost town.  We took time to look over a plethera of antique metal for sale.  We stalled by the chipmunks eating out of our hands which were too cute to leave.  We went up to another town ghost town and ate our lunch.  We climbed a mountain trail to Agnus Falls, talking and taking pictures.  We sat in the hot springs along the river for what seemed like half the day.  We visited the Young Life Youth Camp and drove to Buena Vista to eat dinner outside on the patio.  We even waited awhile for a table.  How did we do all that without feeling rushed?  My only clue comes from the skills I learned in my behavioral group.  It's called 'Mindfulness'.  It means mentally being right where you are.  It sounds obvious, but how often am I thinking about a hundred other things that have to get done rather than what I'm doing right now?  As I write this I have laundry going and I'm thinking about two people I need to call today and I want to write out my budget on paper and the floor needs vacuuming and I need to clean the bathrooms and there's a meeting tonight and Johnny's football practice.  I'm not saying I shouldn't be planning ahead by making lists for the day or the week.  I'm saying that a lot of times I'm planning ahead so much I forget to live what I planned. 

Sunday I went paintballing with my brother, my kids and some of their friends.  I wasn't thiking about bills or painting my kitchen or a number of tasks on my list.  I was thinking about pain as I was pelted three of four times slushing through ankle deep water to take cover.  I've only missed playing paint ball once because I realized as I sat on a bench watching that I was missing out on building memories and relationships.  It also looked like a lot of fun!  There was a time when I realized my calendar didn't match my priorities, so I vowed to change.  I began to put action behind my priorities.  I began to say yes everytime Johnny asked me to play catch in the back yard.  I said yes every time Andy asked me to play xbox and I said yes when Jenna asked me if I wanted to hear the song she wrote. I know I can't always say 'yes', but I used to pass up all of those precious moments because I was doing more important things like housework!  I still have regrets, but I'm very thankful I learned this lesson before my kids were grown. And after a lot of years living frantically like the rabbit in the story of the tortoise and the hare, it's been good to learn how to be a tortoise.  Though I can't slow down time itself, I can slow myself down and enjoy special little moments throughout the day.  For me, it's just a matter of being still enough to recognize them when they come.