Being In a Hurry

Dear Maude:

It was after zooming through Trader Joe’s that you asked “What would life be like if we were never in a hurry?”

That was a very illuminating question for me. It brought up images of summer holidays, of a vacation after five days when I feel myself sinking into it, far more open to the events of the day than the two days of a weekend can provide. Becoming present, in other words.

But is such a state possible in everyday life? Wouldn’t everything just take twice as long?

Maybe not. When we have nothing to do, we’re not in a hurry, but when we do have things to do, we could tackle them in an unhurried manner. Some things, like laying the table, might take longer, but maybe it would leave us so relaxed that we have more energy for the rest of the tasks.

I think that the very existence of a list of things to do generates stress and hence tiredness. If we can be present with each of the tasks instead of mentally planning the rest of the day, we could live an unhurried life.