The Art of S.L.O.W.

This was written and submitted to Bella Grace Magazine in Spring of 2019. Little did I know how pertinent the art of S.L.O.W. would be for 2020. I can look back on 2019, which was a very challenging year for me, and see how it prepared me to handle the ups and downs of a worldwide pandemic. I am ever grateful for this hard and amazing journey we call life.

~

I live in a treehouse (well, technically a third-floor corner apartment that looks over a local park). As I sit in my living room the cicadas are singing in a canopy of lush greenery. Dappled light is casting a purple glow across the darkening horizon. Muted street noises intermingle with stillness. I’m breathing deep. Savoring. Slowing.

I’ve been forced to accept the things that cannot be changed.  It seemed as if personal trials, setbacks, and crippling insomnia were an onslaught of waves determined to pull the ground from beneath me. In the midst of cancelled plans, sleep medication, and serious brain fog the word ‘slow’ began to morph into a defiant acronym: Stop. Listen. Observe. Wait.

A resilience resounded deep within my soul. I longed to warm myself amidst the rekindled embers. I didn’t need the ‘every woman’ in me. I just needed to breathe – in and out – trusting that stopping wasn’t failure, listening would teach me what to say, observing would grant me understanding, and that horrid little word ‘wait’, would teach me peace.

There is a certain life I envision. A space of grace where those I love are long on staying and slow to leave. I don’t miss a beat in holding this beautiful, fragile, uncertain life in my shaking hands. I long to be saturated in awe and wonder of this ordinary extraordinary life.

There are times we need to stop. Just sit in a moment and take nothing else on. The dishes can wait, exercise can wait, even our family can wait for a moment or two. We can stop and take stock of the simple joys of our lives and sit fully in just one space feeling every nuance.

We can listen. Listen to the sounds around us: birdsong (my absolute favorite noise), children laughing, soft piano music, the hum of the refrigerator. Listen to our own heart song and search for what it is trying to tell us.

Observe. It is vital we take the time to observe our surroundings and our thoughts, the state of our heart. Let’s take joy in truly observing the breathtaking in our day to day and stand in wonderment.

There will always be times of waiting. It is what we do in the waiting that matters. If others are seemingly getting all you hoped, know that is facade. They are slaying their own dragons right at this moment. There are waits that are momentary and there are waits that last the scope of our lives. I believe learning to thrive in these shadowlands is the art of living.

Life is not easy and isn’t slowing down. Days, weeks, years bleed together. There is enough time and there isn’t. Yet, we can give ourselves the breathing room to practice the art of S.L.O.W. In these moments we hold the precious gift of time in our hands.