Slowing down

“Nothing prepared me for New York. As soon as I disembarked I was surrounded by a ceaseless stream of traffic, a bewildering display of speed and noise. My first impression was of millions of cars flashing by. I thought there must be some race going on, with people racing for their lives. Was this the Daytona Beach I had read about? I could not understand why all these cars were rushing about like that.
Naturally, I assumed that once the sun set, the scene would quiet down. All those people would finally get wherever they were in such a hurry to get to and stagger out of their vehicles for a little rest.
There I had my second shock: the traffic continued even after the sun had disappeared. The peace and quiet of evening never came. Eight o’clock, nine o’clock, then ten... the traffic just went on and on. What seemed completely unnatural to me had become, to the people of New York, a way of life.
That very first day I made a conscious resolution never to get caught in that kind of race.
‘The pace of life here is fast,’ friends reassured me. ‘But don’t worry; you’ll adjust.’
I replied, ‘I don’t want to adjust. And not only that, I want to help everyone around me get out of the rat race too.’
I have lived in this country for over 30 years now, and I have kept my resolve. Not once have I let myself be hurried by the pace of life here, no matter how severe the pressures around me. And I am proud to say that in the years since then, I have helped thousands of people to slow down too. From that experience has come this book...”

The article continues to give examples of how slowing down yourself can help those around you to slow down, and gives useful tips for ensuring you have the time you need to do the important things. The article is extracted courtesy of the book TAKE YOUR TIME by Eknath Easwaran, founder of the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, and published by Nilgiri Press.

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See page 23 of the September 2006 issue of Yoga & Health magazine.