Faster! Do it faster!! Do more!!! Do it all at the same time.
Why do we hurtle through life at break neck speed? Why do we want to race toward death without experiencing the precious moments of life? Most have experienced that the more we do to free up time the less time we have.
In fact, the faster we do "our stuff" the more likely we are to make mistakes. Mistakes which as we correct use more of our precious time that we are trying to save for... who knows what. Perhaps, the remedy to "not having enough time" is simply to slow down.
Slowwwwwwwwwwly and methodically brushing every tooth surface, flossing between every single tooth, tracing around each tooth with the rubber tipped tool, brushing the tongue, then rinsing and savouring a lively mouth feeling.
Or patiently and carefully cleaning glasses, plates, cups, cutlery, plastic tupperware before greasy cookware, wiping the sink, the counter, the front of the stove where we dripped spaghetti sauce, wiping behind the taps where grime deposits live, polishing up the taps to a twinkle. Fully, submersed in the detail of a complete activity, treating every moment as a shining precious jewel, we find each moment is full and complete.
And what do you know, there is more then enough time.
However, don't believe me. Try it for yourself.
Hi Hoyu,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post! Oddly it reminded me of moments in the zendo where the Jikijitsu has done something very fast but in a clean and clear way.
Lately I've been noticing that the times where there's a lot of fixation on "me, me, me" -- here I am doing the action, here I am thinking about something else while doing the action, here I am rushing around trying to do all the things I think are important and justify why I'm not doing others, here I am being slow and careful and "mindful" and oh so special -- that's where the sloppiness often manifests and the feeling of anxiety (if rushing) or slackness/apathy (if dawdling) seems to come up. It doesn't seem to be a problem just with speed; when I'm fixated on the details of the task or the sensations of doing the task, it's also not skillful (like when I was slooooowwwwwwly doing a prostration the other day, all caught up in being very attentive to how each muscle felt at every shift of movement, instead of just doing the prostration).
At work when I'm rushing through a task to get to the next task it's rare that the rushed task gets done well. But tonight, just moving through each task at a good clip and not getting hung up thinking about it, grumbling about it, or wishing it was done already, it went really smoothly.
My taps are still grotty :)
Cheers,
Joshua
Thanks for the thoughtful response.
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