Getting More Done, Slowly.
There’s a lady who lives across the road from me who I could learn so many lessons from. The main one that comes to mind is to slow down. She is an example of what slow, mindful living does for your health as well as the environment you live in. For starters, she is in her mid-nineties, is still living in her own home, tends and waters her own garden daily and has a ready-smile for any passing admirers. In return, she has a beautiful garden throughout the year, which I get to enjoy from my kitchen window too! Her vegetables are spectacular both in summer and winter with great big cabbages and kale seeing her through the coldest months and now the garden is awash with Clematis, Tulips, Iris, Wisteria and Bluebells. It’s pure heaven.
She’ll be out there with her gardening gloves on, working on the same spot for a whole day. I have nowhere near the same patience, thinking that I should be achieving miles more than tending a square metre in a day. I often wrongly feel like doing nothing as I think there’s just too much to do and I haven't got the time. This can be true of so many other things in life too. Take the issue of the environment, for example. The problems that we face seem unsurmountable so we often are inclined to not do anything. But everything we do makes a difference good or bad.
"You can't get though one day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference" - Dr. Jane Goodall.
From now on, I am going to make a point of slowing down, not to try to do everything all at once but do what I can mindfully and well.