Skip to main content

SPEEDING UP BY SLOWING DOWN

If you want to increase the speed of your success in life then learn to slow down. One may argue, either you speed up or slow down, how can one speed up and slow down simultaneously. It looks like a contradiction. But often life is about reconciling opposites, finding the mid-point, the balance between two extremes.

I would like to explain two meanings of ‘slowing down’.

The first meaning of slowing down is to regularly take time to analyse, introspect and recheck our direction in life. Somehow in today's high-tech world where so much value and stress is given on speed, we many times overlook the direction of our life. As Stephen Covey, the famous author aptly put it by saying - 'The difference between a leader and manager is that, a manager is one who knows how to efficiently climb the ladder, but a leader is one who knows if the ladder is on the right wall.' Most people spend their entire life in efficiently climbing the 'so called' ladder of success only to realise that it was on the wrong wall. What an irony! That's why Socrates the great philosopher mentioned 2500 years back - 'An unexamined life is not worth living.' Just like a car needs to be serviced regularly for it to run faster, similarly we need to take time to invest in ourselves in order to gain momentum in life.


Second meaning of slowing down is to slow down the mind. If you have observed the mind, you will notice how it is constantly oscillating between past and future. The mind seems to have its own pace, it's own speed and it always seems in a sort of hurry to reach it's destination. This is called the Destination Addiction Syndrome (DAS). What is DAS? It is the belief that I will be happy as soon as I reach my destination. But in the process we forget to enjoy the journey. The foolishness of this state of mind is exposed in this beautiful poem.

First I was dying to finish high school and start college
And then I was dying to finish college and start working
And then I was dying to marry and have children
And then I was dying for my children to grow old enough so they could go to school so I could go back to work
And then I was dying to retire
And now...I am dying .... and suddenly I realised I forgot to live.

This shouldn't be the plight of our life. We need to understand that both past and future are illusions of mind, they have no place in reality. The only thing that is real is the present moment. Just see our position - the body is in present moment but our mind is either in the past or the future. No doubt we are experiencing so much stress in life, literally being ‘pulled apart’ by our mind.

The remedy for this madness of the mind is to live in the present. Only when we slow down the mind, can we actually experience life in its true form. Mind doesn't add beauty to life but takes away it's beauty. When was the last time we relished the crispness of the fresh air, looked up and appreciated the sun, moon and stars. When did we stop to actually see the beauty of a flower or a tree. In looking for big miracles we oversee the small ones happening all around us. In fact there is nothing as a small miracle. It's the nature of the mind to make even extraordinary things ordinary.

The key to success is to understand that, if we give ourselves fully to the present moment naturally the future will be the best. The future takes care of itself if we take care of the present. As it is said - Yesterday was history, tomorrow is a mystery but today is a gift of God - that's why it is called present. And these gift can be accessed only by being fully present in the moment. So the next time you catch the mind racing, tell it this mantra - ‘You speed up by slowing down’.

- Achyut Gopal Das

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HOME BEYOND ALL OTHER HOMES

  I recently had the opportunity to visit the temple of Lord Gadagidu Veer Narayana in Gadag, Karnataka. After having darshan of the Lord, we sat under a shady tree to have our morning Srimad-bhagvatam class. While, we were having our class, I observed that few teenage, college going girls also sat nearby to have their breakfast together. I also observed that few elderly men were practising yoga asanas in one corner of the temple. There was one little puppy sleeping at the entrance of the temple without any fear. As I was giving the class, I heard so many birds who were chirping and flying around in the temple courtyard.  I was reflecting how so many different types of people and living entities were happily taking shelter of the temple of the Lord. And why not? After all, the Supreme Lord is the father of all and we are all His children. Our Supreme Father provides and gives shelter to us all and yes, the temple of the Lord is the home of our Father, t...
Post a Comment
Read more

CHANGE OF HEART

In today's world, we are blessed to be surrounded by so much knowledge. In fact we are almost swimming in an ocean of knowledge. We have the best of spiritual books, best of the speakers who share deep wisdom still we feel there has been 'no' or 'very minimal' tangible transformation in our lives. Why? This could be one reason...We somehow inadvertently believe that just having access to knowledge will guarantee us success in spiritual life. But one may argue, Is knowledge not sufficient! True, knowledge is the first step to success. But it's not the only step. People say knowledge is power, but it is only potential power, latent power. Applied knowledge is power. Only when knowledge is applied in our lives can true transformation begin.  That means we need to put some internal effort to realise the knowledge. It's not an automatic process. There's a difference between theoretical realisation and actual, true realisation. Theoretical ...
Post a Comment
Read more

FOREST OF THE GRACEFUL MOTHER

Thank you Oh Srimati Radharani, Oh Divine Mother for giving this fallen and sinful soul entrance into Your personal abode, Sri Vrindavan. I know that I am fully unqualified to step onto this holy land of Yours but Your mercy is unfathomable, unimaginable and incalculable. A day before our departure from Goa, I had developed some throat infection and was feeling slightly feverish. I was not sure if I could make it. All the more, we didn't get a direct flight to Delhi. We were supposed to hop over in Mumbai and then take another flight to Delhi. With the increase in Covid cases across India and especially in Maharashtra, there was news that we might have to go through Covid tests in both Mumbai and Delhi airports. Being a little sick, I was not sure what the test results would turn out to be. But by the mercy of Radharani, there were no tests conducted in either of the airports. Radharani arranged everything so nicely for us because of our tiny, little desire to vi...
Post a Comment
Read more