Move Slow

“The rate at which a person can mature is directly proportional to the embarrassment he can tolerate.”
- Douglas Engelbart, co-inventor of the computer mouse

I don’t know if this is solely my perception, but it seems like most people that I encounter in public—at the supermarket, at the coffee shop, driving—are multitasking or participating in something that takes their attention away from what they are doing. Today while driving, the man next to me was holding a bag of what appeared to be Chinese take out, and talking on his cell phone. Additionally, he was going 10 miles over the speed limit. Maybe there were some set of dire consequences that made such behavior necessary, but I am hard pressed to come up with a scenario that incorporates all these actions.

When was the last time that you ever heard of someone just going for a drive? From the stories that I have heard, people used to just get in their car--sometimes by themselves and sometimes with others--and just go for a drive. Open road, clean air, no agenda, clear your head, and come back home feeling better--this is what people would do from time to time. The only thing is, the roads are becoming more and more conjested, I won't even talk about air quality, and it takes an awful lot of work and planning to get to a place where you can create the time and space not to have an agenda. Some would say that this is due to an overwhelming amount of information we are exposed to each day. I won't disagree. But the root cause of extreme multi-tasking hasn't changed for centuries, maybe eons. When you get right down to it, you have create space and time to move slow.

Part of me is writing here because I saw a person operating a car while holding a bag of take out, breaking the speed limit, and talking on a cell phone. When I saw this I was shocked. The other part of me is writing here because I wanted to give myself space today to process what's going on around me, and let myself feel what moving slow is like again. It goes against the grain of what I would say is typical of day to day behavior. And that is exactly why it is so important.

I wonder what MAD would say that he does to reconnect with "moving slow" or how he just enjoys some of his time when he is not working? Hopefully he will tell me some time this week.

There are a handful of things that I do with some regularity which help me to reconnect with my own internal rhythm: writing, sipping a well crafted Scotch whiskey--which sometimes goes hand in hand with writing, shining my shoes--preferably while sitting outside on the steps of house I live in, and ironing.

There will never be a replacement for sipping Scotch whiskey, but I often times have my shirts cleaned, or will get my shoes shined at the barber shop. I think that there is something very precious about doing basic and menial things for oneself. It does take time, but by taking time a person is forced to reconnect with how to move at their own pace. I could actually see a bestseller here: "The Power of Shining Shoes." Maybe in a few years when "The Secret" is passe, this will be the new thing.

Also, today is Mother's Day. For the most part, I think it's a holiday that Hallmark invented to boost there card sales. On top of it, I hate those Hallmark Hall of Fame movies, so I have made a solemn vow to boycott the companies products all together. So, my mom won't be getting a card today. I hope she forgives me. Instead, I'm going to go and have dinner with her and spend some time with her without an agenda. Hopefully, it will be quality time--as long as I don't start calculating the number of hours of sleep I need to be rested for work and get antsy when it looks like I will only get a solid 8. So, we'll see what happens.