‘Quick’s dead and Hurry’s in its grave' my Grandma used to say.
I can’t remember the things that caused me to hurry in Grandma’s day, but I know how hurried I am now as I work through e-mails, texts, social media and the demands of work and family.
Like a traffic sign inviting reduction of speed, Grandma’s saying flashes into mind - ‘Quick’s dead and Hurry’s in its grave' - as I maintain the struggle to satisfy the demands before me. Putting brakes on ‘Hurry’ is partly putting brakes on commitments taken on thoughtlessly.
Strategic thinking is one way to slow a hurried lifestyle, but there is a deeper perspective. Grandma's saying is actually against greed. When hurrying, we can be attempting to pack into life – or get out of life – more than we actually need. It may be an unconscious recognition of our mortality. We have greed to seize opportunities and cram them into our finite lifespan.
I write as an opportunist who has been learning to qualify this tendency over the years since I sat at Grandma’s feet. I understand now that people in a hurry are not the flavour of the month when compared to the swan-like, tranquil folk who never give a hint of what is paddling away under the surface of their lives. By just being there, unhurried, they draw attention, as well as friends, as they invite us to waste the time we see as so precious.
If I want to be more calm like them, I have to recognise that seizing creative opportunities needs balancing with the capacity to connect with the unhurried - Better slower together, than faster alone.
The world we live in gives us unprecedented choice that, welcome as that is, brings serious dangers. We access people, leisure or work options at the touch of a screen. Our time gets filled with desirable alternatives we seize upon, hurrying crazily from one activity to another, driven by messages coming in to us at the speed of light.
Human beings are set up to travel much more slowly. It helps that we are becoming more aware of the wiles of the electronic media we are exposed to, with its abundant welcome or unwelcome demands, but there are wider issues.
The writer G.K.Chesterton mused that ‘One of the great disadvantages of hurry is that it takes such a long time’. Chesterton’s witty saying hits the nail on the head about Hurry’s relentless grip once he gets a hold on us.
If one brake to ‘Hurry’ is setting apart a regular peaceable time to recall life goals and prioritise a to-do list – quite a small period – another is to appreciate serendipity.
You can have a strategy to slow down your life, going for quality before quantity in engagement, but serendipity is a better brake. By being open to reining back activities, we are drawn into life’s happy chances, its hour-by-hour surprises. ‘What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare’ wrote the poet.
I am a ‘human being’ not a ‘human doing’. ‘Just being’ seems alien to part of me, even with those I love. For Grandma there was no ‘just’, her influence was simply that of a warm, personal presence. Encountering her was naturally unhurried, the best sort of serendipity.
Being available to others, without demands, to give your time and ear will always be attractive. Putting the brakes on ‘Hurry’, so our minds appreciate the present moment is a great aspiration, even if it remains in tension with ‘making time’ to fulfil the demands ahead.
The French military have a saying ‘reculer pour mieux sauter’ – ‘coil up to better spring forth’ – which captures the rebalancing involved in braking ‘Hurry’, so life can best speed ahead.
No comments:
Post a Comment