I was a cottage yesterday evening. I was drinking a glass of good Cuban Rhum and talking with a good friend while we were hypnotized by the flames dancing in the fire and warmed by it’s radiant heat.
We had a cottage day with the kids: no TV, no internet, no cell phone, no emails, no text message, no video games, just the outdoors, the lake, the forest and the sun. Even if i wanted, i couldn’t stay connected because the signals got lost deep in the forest. We were disconnected.
I had time to reflect on the passage of time and on my desire to slow down. I have been talking of slowing down in the last months. It is one of my objectives this year. Recently, i realized that talking of slowing down is easy but really slowing is hard. Giving up the things we don’t like is easy. But what if our lives are filled with things we love and people we love? What if we love everything we do and slowing down means giving up some of that stuff?
This is the real challenge.
I feel the need to do less and have more time to enjoy the things, the people, the moments in front of me but i don’t know where to start, where to sacrifice.
I do think that one of the first steps i need to make is to say no more often, to think of me, to make space for moments with myself and the people i really care about.
This seems an important topic because when i talk with most of my friends, we all feel that the pace of our lives is too fast, it feels like a race and it shouldn’t. We all want to slow down, to have more time.
I want my life to be like an evening spent lying on the cool grass watching the stars with my son. I don’t want my life to feel like friday afternoon at Costco.
It is an ongoing reflection and i don’t have all the answers. As i find them, i’ll share them with you, my friends.
And i really appreciate your comments and suggestions.
Thank you.
Martin Pham Dinh 