When we run...
... we don't notice the small things.
... we are too fast to become aware of signs and indicators that show us "other ways".
... we have to pay attention to our own steps and are focussed on the path in front of us - and only when we tumble, we might slow down.
... we don't see what's around us, past us, left and right of us.
... we need to sustain ourselves to keep up the fast pace and don't have much capacity to look out or after others.
... we miss the small tracks on the of the road and are more likely to follow the "beaten track" as it is easier to see and we are more familiar with it.
Slowing down is one of the first lessons I learned to incorporate when sharing with other humans, for example, in a workshop or at a conference. I learned it from non-human teachers. Sitting with birds, trees, dogs, horses, rivers, lakes, the ocean...
Swimming with dolphins, whales, sea lions...
Listening to the winds, the waters, the fire, the sound of fellow earthlings...
I noticed that many people find it not easy to slow down. Yet it is a prerequisite to receive, to regenerate, to replenish. Many of us are eager to learn, eager to spend our time "efficiently and productively" - and in order to feel that way, we need to do something... we need to keep our body and mind busy.
Mindfulness, Yoga in all its various forms, TM, shamanic journeying... there are more and more people busying themselves to learn and teach those "modalities".
Yet... I rarely see what my teachers gave me: the opportunity to slow down, completely, to become still, completely, to overcome my desire, my need to do - and to drop into beingness, completely. And out of that beingness comes the gift of intuitive knowing, the gift of feeling, the gift of alignment with life-giving energies...
It was a "hard" path for me - as I was running so fast. My teachers refused to teach me in the way I wanted and expected to be taught! They sent me home, in the forest, in the garden, on the water... I felt offended, hurt, maybe I wasn't worthy enough to be taught? And it took me a while to accept their gifts as my mind told me I was just wasting my time, and theirs... and "getting nowhere". I thought I wasn't very efficient and productive on my "spiritual path".
Until I gave in, allowed myself to slow down, to sit, to breathe, to observe, to feel, to become aware... For years... decades... I am still journeying, at a much slower pace...
In these times, when we transition into the next cycle towards balance, merging doing (male energy) with being (female energy), we need to be aware that our female pole (being) isn't equally developed as our male pole (doing) due to patriarchal structures. The "rise of the feminine" implicates that we re-member and re-integrate female qualities. We all know... but like with everything: at a beginner's stage it is wise to slow down, to allow the seed to be held and nurtured - until it arises from the soil, as a natural consequence...
... we don't notice the small things.
... we are too fast to become aware of signs and indicators that show us "other ways".
... we have to pay attention to our own steps and are focussed on the path in front of us - and only when we tumble, we might slow down.
... we don't see what's around us, past us, left and right of us.
... we need to sustain ourselves to keep up the fast pace and don't have much capacity to look out or after others.
... we miss the small tracks on the of the road and are more likely to follow the "beaten track" as it is easier to see and we are more familiar with it.
Slowing down is one of the first lessons I learned to incorporate when sharing with other humans, for example, in a workshop or at a conference. I learned it from non-human teachers. Sitting with birds, trees, dogs, horses, rivers, lakes, the ocean...
Swimming with dolphins, whales, sea lions...
Listening to the winds, the waters, the fire, the sound of fellow earthlings...
I noticed that many people find it not easy to slow down. Yet it is a prerequisite to receive, to regenerate, to replenish. Many of us are eager to learn, eager to spend our time "efficiently and productively" - and in order to feel that way, we need to do something... we need to keep our body and mind busy.
Mindfulness, Yoga in all its various forms, TM, shamanic journeying... there are more and more people busying themselves to learn and teach those "modalities".
Yet... I rarely see what my teachers gave me: the opportunity to slow down, completely, to become still, completely, to overcome my desire, my need to do - and to drop into beingness, completely. And out of that beingness comes the gift of intuitive knowing, the gift of feeling, the gift of alignment with life-giving energies...
It was a "hard" path for me - as I was running so fast. My teachers refused to teach me in the way I wanted and expected to be taught! They sent me home, in the forest, in the garden, on the water... I felt offended, hurt, maybe I wasn't worthy enough to be taught? And it took me a while to accept their gifts as my mind told me I was just wasting my time, and theirs... and "getting nowhere". I thought I wasn't very efficient and productive on my "spiritual path".
Until I gave in, allowed myself to slow down, to sit, to breathe, to observe, to feel, to become aware... For years... decades... I am still journeying, at a much slower pace...
In these times, when we transition into the next cycle towards balance, merging doing (male energy) with being (female energy), we need to be aware that our female pole (being) isn't equally developed as our male pole (doing) due to patriarchal structures. The "rise of the feminine" implicates that we re-member and re-integrate female qualities. We all know... but like with everything: at a beginner's stage it is wise to slow down, to allow the seed to be held and nurtured - until it arises from the soil, as a natural consequence...