Let's hurry up and be still . . .

It was a Saturday afternoon and I was having some kind of trouble with my computer, for which I can't even remember, and my husband came upstairs to rescue me. I wasn't sure how long it was going to take and so rather than go on to something else I just decided to get comfy in a chair and wait. There on the table next to me was a small book that much to my surprise I had never seen before . . . I picked it up and it happened to be a book from an author of some of my very favorite quotes. The title of the book was, Walden * Henry David Thoreau and is a re-count of his experiences living in a small house in the woods on Walden Pond.

As I randomly opened the book I fell upon the middle of the chapter, "Where I lived and what I lived for", and he was talking about life living too fast.

I began to read . . .

" Life lives too fast. Men think that it is essential that the nation have commerce, and talk through a telegraph, and export ice, and ride thirty miles per hour, and without a doubt, whether they do or not; but whether we should live like baboons or like men is a little uncertain."

The time frame for which he spent at Walden Pond was July 4, 1845- September 6, 1847 . . . and I find it interesting that through time every century of people have had the same concerns about time and as he said, living with such hurry and waste. Can you just imagine what Henry would think now if he only saw how fast we go through life today. And never mind the telegraph, we now have a plethora of social media; twitter, facebook, instagram, flickr, pinterest and blogging etc., all accessed on wireless boxes called computers, cell phones and ipads.

And as we get more and more of these technological advances, our world seems to get smaller and smaller. Our connection to people, places and things seemingly grows closer and closer and we now have the illusion that we can do or get things done faster and faster. But everything comes at a cost, and I believe the price we are paying is the exchange of quality for quantity.

We have become a society addicted to technology and to speed in the name of being connected. But are we really connecting? Because it seems with every new step of technology we seem to forget our true connections to each other, let alone the living of life. Sometimes we live so fast I'm not sure we even notice, and I often wonder, do we even know where we are going anymore, or why we don't stop to smell the roses along the way.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against technology. It can be a good thing when used in moderation and allows us a glimpse into the snippets of others lives, family and friends who live so far away.  It has allowed me on my blog and here with my life sisters and all of you, to connect with strangers who have become friends. To share stories and life and help one another and give encouragement through difficult times. But if we aren't careful it can become the very obstacle in our ability to live life fully. If we aren't careful we can lose our internal selves to the external expectations of society.

"Perhaps it would be a good idea, fantastic as it sounds, to muffle every telephone, stop

every motor and halt all activity for an hour some day to give people a chance to ponder

for a few minutes on what it is all about, why they are living and what they really want."

- James Truslow Adams

Now that school is back in session, (I have two teenagers in high school), life lives on the faster side for sure. My son is in football, my daughter is in choir. We absolutely love supporting them in their endeavors, in what they love, but it does mean that something else somewhere has to give because I quite like driving the speed limit, it's about all I can handle these days. I am no longer an adrenaline junky and enjoy the quieter, softer side of life. I enjoy that one hour of time . . . to make an intentional effort to listen the real sounds of silence, where I can truly think about things and re-connect with those deeper parts of myself. 

You know, Henry went to live at Walden pond to continue his writing at the suggestion of Ellery Channing. He needed a quieter place than his household to write (I get that, lol), but in the same chapter he describes another motive . . .

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only

the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach,

and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

-Henry David Thoreau

This quote is probably one of my all time favorite quotes and I probably shouldn't admit this, but I had no idea it came from this little book.

All I know is that the faster we go, the more likely we are to miss out on the true meaning of life. That we need to slow down or chance missing the real connections that are meant for each of us along the way. Because when we are in a hurry we sacrifice patience, with ourselves, our relationships and in our empathy towards others.

 I don't want to lose the sense of urgency in my hurriedness to find stillness.

AND,

 I don't want to come to the end of my life and find that I've been in a rush to nowhere.

So my challenge to you today, this week, is to find that hour and show us in our Flickr group what it looks like when you take time out from the frantic pace of life and the connections you make.

P.S. Join me today on my blog Picking Poppies .... I'm sharing a blog connection I made and my just received "Harvest Nest" from that talented blogger.

Happy Tuesday!