In reference to slowing down, have you heard the clever phrase: We are human beings, not human doings?
I agree!
There’s a scene in the movie Pretty Woman where Vivian asks workaholic Edward to make time to Veg out—Lay like broccoli.
Do you make time to veg out? Stare out the window? Breathe? Meditate?
Or, do you fill every waking moment with activity?
I’m a big believer in slowing down and vegging out, BEING, and….after reading an excerpt from a speech by military colonel John Boyd, I also believe in DOING. Boyd said:
Tiger, one day you will come to a fork in the road and you’re going to have to make a decision about which direction you want to go.
If you go that way you can be somebody. You will have to make compromises and you will have to turn your back on your friends. But you will be a member of the club and you will get promoted and you will get good assignments.
Or,
you can go that way (pointing the other direction) and you can do something—something for your country and for your Air Force and for yourself. If you decide you want to do something, you may not get promoted and you may not get the good assignments and you certainly will not be a favorite of your superiors. But you won’t have to compromise yourself. You will be true to your friends and to yourself. And your work might make a difference. To be be somebody or to do something. In life there is often a roll call. That’s when you will have to make a decision.
To be takes on a completely different meaning in Boyd’s speech—his interpretation goes beyond activity to character.
Where is your activity leading you?
Taking time to meditate on that can change your life.
Even two letter words can be tricky.
What if we slow down, pause, and look beyond the words?