This photo was taken in Laos, a slice of heaven on Earth, where I was lucky enough to visit in 2015 and where you cannot help but adjust your pace to fall into step with Nature. It's where I found Thich Nhat Hanh sitting on a bookshelf, with the timeless reminder that Peace is Every Step. This particular tree is one we encountered on the way up Mount Phusa. It bows down to the ground below from its high vantage point, while remaining rooted in its place, between the Earth and the sky.
Slowness is...
a deliberate adjustment or a subconscious delay?
To slow down is to
give yourself permission to be
Some way other than the way you've been led.
To feel your way back
With the weight of your body
Easing into every pause
Where you notice
clouds shredded by a plane in the sky
sitting and drinking your coffee.
Dragonflies dancing in effortless synchronicity
staring at the pond.
A face in a doorway
walking down the street.
A leaf escaping a branch
waiting to cross the road.
A ripple of pain
outstretched before you rise.
It's the undulation of a wave
A conscious inhalation
A breath not a gasp
A smile not a frown
a lingering embrace
a harmonious exchange
It is the body's intelligent response
A defence against the mercurial fever of the mind
A gap in the curtain
A welcome fall with grace.
Stem the flow
resist the hurry
linger on
the space between the words
the silence between the sounds
compose the poetry of your life as it unfolds
why wait until whatever it is
is almost over.
**The digested read: wake up and smell the coffee**