“When you want to
hurry something, that means you no longer care about it and want to get on to
other things.”—Zen and the Art of
Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
How true that is.
In recent years, we are all about “mindfulness” and being present. Be mindful
and reduce your stress and anxiety. Keep a mindfulness journal. Eat your meals
mindfully—chew every morsel dozens of times, feel the textures and indulge in
the flavors while you quiet the many other thoughts that flood your mind. It’s
a very effective tool for disconnecting from the chaos of life.
But have you ever
stopped to think about the flip side? The many times a day you rush through an activity
only to immediately move on to the next? Why have you become disinterested in
those activities? What is it about those people that you want to get away from?
And what are you missing out on in the midst of your rush to move ahead?
I hadn’t thought
about the price of rushing until I heard that line while listening to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
I had read the book in my 20s, and it’s one of my husband’s favorite books. So
I decided it was time for a refresher.
Think about the
things you rush—or have rushed—through…and what’s really going on inside.
Driving from here to there. Of course,
you’re anxious to be there and done with the trip.
Exercise class. More often than
not, you exercise in order to feel better about yourself or simply to lose
weight or fit into your clothes better. But the process of exercise is hard. We
distract ourselves with music, videos and other mind games waiting for the
session to be done. I do that in every yoga class I attend—I feel good
afterward, but for some reason, I never enjoy the process of the class, and I
am anxious to get on to other things every moment of the hour. I can’t
necessarily rush through class, since I’m not in charge of the timing, but the
desire to rush is always there.
Business or club meetings. Do
you ever reach the point in a meeting when you have discussed all that you feel
like you can discuss or feel like the conversation is no longer progressing, so
you cut the meeting short?
How about those last papers in high school and college? Good enough. Rush. Done. Vacation time. Graduation time.
I’ve even rushed
during the recording of my own podcasts and videos if I feel like my brain
needs a break. It’s not that I’m not engaged in the discussion. Frankly, just
the opposite. I’m so engaged that my mind needs a break, and I have to be super
careful not to jump over important parts of the conversation in order to get
the mental rest that my body is asking for.
The question is, What are we missing out on in the midst of
all that rushing?
Rush to get from
here to there…and miss out on lovely scenery or the opportunity for quiet
reflection.
Cut a business
meeting short…and potentially leave important ideas or details out of the
discussion.
Leave swiftly when
dining with friends…and limit the depth of the social connection, unless of
course there is some other issue such as you just don’t enjoy being with them
and perhaps should move away from them in your life.
Rush to be promoted
at work or to get a new job…and limit the learning at your current position.
There is always something else to learn in every job at every level.
We are so busy
looking for the next activity that we are not fully engaging in and
appreciating where we are now.
Enjoying the
scenery. Appreciating the process of becoming more fit. Developing deeper
business and personal relationships. Learning all that we can from a situation
or an event.
The younger
generation has been accused of lacking long-term consequential thinking because
they have been raised in a world of immediate gratification. When everything
comes immediately and messages change constantly, it’s easy to see how that
pace becomes the norm.
But when you only look an inch deep or move too rapidly, tremendous detail is lost. It’s not just the younger generation that is suffering from get-it-done-syndrome. As technology has increased the pace and quantity of messaging and activities, we all are falling victim to it. At what price?
When my husband was
on a photography trip a while back, the group was given the assignment to stand
in a single place and photograph some number of images within that limited
square footage. It was fascinating to see not only the variety of images he
took but also the even greater array of perspectives by others who were in
close proximity to him. Rushing to complete the task would have eliminated a fascinating
expanse of perspective.
Next time you
notice yourself rushing through something, take a pause—not to get present and
mindful, but to see what it is about that activity or interaction that you no
longer care about. Is that true? Do you really no longer care? Is it something
or someone that should be cut out of your life? Perhaps. Or is there something
you are trying not to confront? Listen and learn from the messages your mind is
sending you.