#632 Slowing down

Neil Pasricha

Forget the click and dream a dream todayTime is an illusion.

Baby, we’re all just spinning, gninnips, spinning.

Electrons spinning in our tall, fleshy bodies, spinning on our big, wet rock, spinning in our bright, white solar system, spinning in our deep, dark galaxy, spinning in our brain-bustingly big universe.

Listen, this never ending swirly-twirly headtrip can be a bit much sometimes, so we try to place some delicate order on our bumpy, chaotic lives. Yes, we tack calendars on our kitchen cabinets with organized checkerboards of days and weeks and months. We make plans for Saturday night, sleep in on Sunday, and head to work Monday morning. See, now instead of swirling and twirling, we’ve got minutes and hours and days and weeks and months and years and lives.

Drop a tissue on thisOh sure, maybe setting a calendar on the beautiful insanity of life is like placing a square of tissue paper on a hurricane. But without the structure and routine we’d just sort of wander around aimlessly forever, you know what I mean?

“Hey man, when you gonna finish college?”

“Dude, I dunno, maybe when my beard touches my knees?”

No, no, no, we need order, we want order, we crave order, we love order.

Order gives us birthdays, anniversaries, and hair appointments. Order gives us the recess bell, cake baking smell, and Christmas eves with the family. Order gives us company meetings, holiday greetings, and long weekends in the summer.

Order gives us a lot.

Be like the snailBut people, sometimes it’s great to slow down and get swirly-twirly, anyway.

Sometimes it’s great to set up a crinkly tent on the damp edge of a gushing river and camp out under the stars with someone you love. Sometimes it’s great to shutter in and veg out on the pizza-sauce-stained corduroy couch during a snowy winter break at school. Sometimes it’s great to slap on baggy khaki shorts and a bright, flowery shirt and fly to a distant island just to lay on a hot, sandy beach in front of the blue, glittery ocean.

Sometimes it’s great to step back and stare at the clouds and trees.

Sometimes it’s great to let your thoughts float high and float free.

Sometimes it’s great to close your eyes and let it all just slip away.

Sometimes it’s great to forget the clock and dream a dream today.

AWESOME!

(There’s an update in the Book section)

Slow and steady, baby

Photos from: here, here, here, and here

58 thoughts to “#632 Slowing down”

    1. if u read the first sentence of ur post just after u read the poem-y ending above, it sort of fits in

  3. What my hectic college life consists of… your entry was submitted on a much needed day, my friend. Thank you.

    Awesome.

  10. Like my musical friend Bruce Cockburn says, you got to Slow Down Fast.

    I love the poetry in this entry. I feel like I could read this every day and love it just as much every time. I also hope that the Recess Bell gets its own entry someday.

  11. Absolute spot-on entry for what I’ve been feeling lately. Whether it’s a good laugh or something just to sit and make you think “Wow. This is so true.”, this blog is the perfect start to every morning for me.

    Thanks for writing…

  12. everyone’s right. this entry was perfect for today. too much to do and so little time. i love getting caught up in the swirly-twirly headtrip.

  15. As much as I love and crave order, I also crave this to keep from going insane. Slowing down. The best awesome thing ever.

  23. Great, great post. And trust me – after coming off a lengthy unemployment, I really enjoyed “being like the turtle”, and enjoying the lazy days and taking in each minute of each day. I knew those slow and sleepy days wouldn’t last forever, so I made the most of them while I had them.

    But this post is a great reminder to take the time to do this all the time – not just in those exceptional circumstances. Great post!

  24. wow, this is perfect
    never been to this website before
    this is the first post i see
    was just dumped yesterday
    everything moved too fast anyway

    ALL I WANT IS FOR MY LIFE TO SLOW DOWN

    thank you for posting this

  25. “gninnips” … nice! Took me a minute but once I s.l.o.w.e.d..d.o.w.n… I got it!

    And thanks for sending this lovely refrain meandering through my brain:

    Got no deeds to do,
    No promises to keep.
    I’m dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep.
    Let the morning time drop all its petals on me.
    Life, I love you,
    All is groovy.

  26. Easily my favorite “Awesome Thing” so far. Makes me glad I signed up for the emails. Wonderful writing – thanks!

  28. Thank you!
    Never seen this site before, but I’m glad I stumbled across it today.

    This is just what I needed to realize.

  30. When you slow down you are able to think more clearly and objectively. This is important because then you are able to plan your life in the right way.

  33. This is a great one. It used to frustrate me when people would take time to put everything away (i.e.: on the supermarket line or at a fast food drive through window), but I NEED to become that person.

    I need to slow down, whether it be in everyday circumstances or taking a walk for peace of mind.

    Excellent entry!

  34. Hi… i just wanted to tell you that this particulary post has helped me to make some desitions that I didn’t wanted to make, but I absoloutly need to.
    I’m on my “slowing things down, growing up and moving on” mode.

    thanks

  40. Beautiful, gorgeous, and sweet.
    Brings me back to memories of slowing down on a snowed-in weekend last winter at college. Spent it holed up in bed with the shades pulled and the breaths of my lover for a soundtrack. Whether we were loving, playing in the snow, or embarking into the cold wind in search of sandwiches, we were never more than a few feet apart. We were slowed down, and it was awesome.

  42. wow, i read this post at the perfect time. It made me cry :’) and i didnt even get gninnips until the comments. My mum has been pushing me to slow down after coming out of a huge 2 months filled with performing, choir trips to new zealand, homework, 6 assignments, troubles with the parents and lack of sleep (not getting over 7 1/2 hrs every school night for 6 months). I have just started going to bed earlier, and getting organised with work. Thank you, Neil, for posting this. My favourite Awesome by far :)

  43. On this date I turned 50! Never thought it would come so fast!! My husband hugged me and sleepily sang the entire ‘Happy Birthday’ song to me. It melted away any worries I’d had about my age!
    Today I discovered ‘1000 Awesome Things’ & have read back to my birthday. I truly hope this never ends!! Thank You!! :~)

  44. I’m catching up, and almost a year late. But 11/18 is my birthday.

    At 37, a lot of my organized plans haven’t come through; married by 28, first child by 30, job I love and could retire with by 36 (after the kids start school!) None of that has happened. So I’m starting to think I should plan less and enjoy more.

    This is so appropriate. I plan to read it again on 11/18/10. It will keep me from stressing out about the things I can’t control.

  46. WOW! You know me by now~and I LOVE this!
    Definately a poster.
    Cute poem Deb.
    Beth, I found this site just 26 days before my 50th. in 2010. I too hpe it lasts forever, so HOLLA!

  47. Thanks , I have recently been searching for information about this topic for ages and yours is the greatest I have discovered till now. But, what about the conclusion? Are you sure about the source?

  50. Re-reading this I see more perfection; genious!
    Listening to people speak of the festivities coming around again in these tough times, I thought it a good post to remind us all of what’s most important…and to focus on family, friends and love.
    This song seems to go hand-in-hand; so fitting to slowing it down, yet living it at the same time:

Comments are closed.