Living on adrenaline, trying to get something, looking for the edge, making gain; there is a flurry of activity in the world, which is wonderful, yet rushing and stressing often produces toxic by-products.
Depleted and tired, upset and wired, tense and down all to get something that usually, and very often, doesn’t really matter, not really.
Not always, but often, it seems those who rush are out of step with themselves and out of touch with time. They look like they are doing more but are expending so much energy and depleting themselves.
Many a person has heard the Zen koan of ‘hurry slowly,’ whereby we may need to do things quickly or swiftly yet it is done with such presence and connectedness to the moment that it accesses a level of awareness that itself assists in the completion of the task.
Ask yourself, Will it matter in five years or ten years? Ask even more, Am I rushing myself towards an early death or courting ill-health by rushing?
Previously, I would be disturbed by erratic drivers weaving without care at speed in and out of traffic and tailgating. Now when I see someone driving in that fashion, I simply pull to the side or give them ample space to pass. If someone is hurtling towards their objective, sometimes they are unstoppable and all we can do is stand aside so they feel the full consequence of their actions while maintaining presence and sending love.
In my first year working as a lawyer, my supervising solicitor at the time was a calm, wise man and he would see how my conscience would be offended when someone would seek to twist, distort or pervert the law to their own ends and he would say to me quite plainly, ‘Sometimes you can’t make an irrational person rational. All you can do is show them the consequences of their irrationality.’
For some reason his words have always been a source of comfort and truth when I have encountered situations in my life that seemed bizarre or bewildering.
Back to you, though, and this post. I guess it’s important to place things in perspective and understand that actions have impacts and when we do something under stress or duress we are harming ourselves in ways that may be unhealthy and unloving. So, in this way, look closely at your action-by-action and your breath-by-breath at those times to see what impels or compels you to rush. What pattern is saying you need to do this thing at speed?
You may find that the need to impress or be perfect, or to keep the peace, or fear of losing or being a failure or excluded could be sitting beneath it, or indeed a multitude of other things and feelings.
Life is short, our time here is brief; smell the roses and blossom gently. There is nowhere to get to…