The Slowlutions™ Ripple Effect
Fable of the Flat Tire
“Most people say, ‘You know I had a flat tire and at first I was totally freaked out. And then I realized how beautiful of a day it was, and it wasn’t so bad sitting there waiting on the tow truck, and I realized I drive by this place every day and I never knew that there was wild carrot growing there!’ ”
A tire gone flat creates a space for slowing down and revitalizing. Sitting in stillness, we begin to rediscover our delight at nature’s beauty and surprises. So this Slowlution™ ripples from our personal universe to the larger one.
When we are too much on the run, nature all too easily fades into a back closet in our hearts and minds and we cease to value it. We become numb to reports of ecological destruction and, so, are unable to choose whether we want to take action by sending money, writing letters, or planting a tree in our own backyard. Inexorably, the destruction continues, unabated.
Slowlutions™ provide us the opportunity to notice what we were too rushed or tired to see before. A certain look in our child’s eye, the way sunlight sparkles on a stream, our own feelings. Slowing down and revitalizing helps us open our eyes – and our hearts.
Dominique Davis
In this way, Slowlutions™ ripple out from us into the world.
Slowing down and responding to one’s inner rhythms are too often decried as softness or laziness, or as dangerous to our economic survival. Yet, when we live from those beliefs we become like Thoreau’s contemporaries, our “fingers from excessive toil, are too clumsy and tremble too much” for preserving “the finest qualities of our nature.” (Walden)
When we don’t feed our essential need for rest or recreation, our unmet hunger keeps us stuck in the shallowness of wanting, much like Johnny Rocco in the film Key Largo. Played by Edward G. Robinson, the gangster Rocco cannot specify what he wants, other than to exclaim: “Yeah. That’s it. More. That’s right! I want more.” Asked: “Will you ever get enough?” Rocco replies, “Well, I never have.”
To be constantly depleted is to “never have” our most abundant wealth: our rich inner lives, deep relationships, a wonder of nature, a love for others that moves us to try to improve the lives of those we know or of people living in lands of dust and destitution.
Filling our own needs – even in 5-minute increments – facilitates an inner receptivity spacious and deep enough for a distressed friend to feel safe revealing his pain, or for a teenage daughter to share every detail of a rare delight. Rested and less hurried, we are more likely to respond to a stranger in need or be moved into action by TV reports of starvation in faraway places. While Slowlution™ and other forms of self-care begin at the individual level, they can lead, like chain reactions, to a caring and a creativity of thought and action that make a profound difference in the world.
Slowlutions™, revitalizing us, help us move beyond the walls
that rush and stress so easily build between us and the world.
71% of respondents to my Pace of Life Survey believe that “the pace of my life has an impact on my spiritual life.” For those of us who value spirituality, renewal brings energy we can focus on discerning and strengthening our connection with God, spirit, higher power, Allah. Once restored, we have the capacity to think deeply and connect with values that help us guide our own and our children’s lives.
Taking time for ourselves, we give more fully.
In this way, Slowlutions™ ripple out from us into the world.