Slow and Steady…
“When you want to hurry something, that means you no longer care about it and want to get on to other things. I just want to get at it slowly, but carefully and thoroughly…”
— Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
Perhaps it was the turtles my friend and I enjoyed watching sunbathing recently that got me thinking about the classic Aesop fable about the tortoise and the hare. But I sense it was a message I needed to be reminded of as a new year begins.
Accustomed to the idea of a “fast start” to build momentum for achieving the goals I desire, I feel called to slowly move forward this January despite the long list of to-do’s. Something tells me the results will be better for my slower pace.
This inspired choice for me may not be right for you. How are you embarking upon this new adventure that 2023 offers?
We ended the year with a newsletter that said “May you find moments to treasure and savor in these final days of 2022.” This feels like a powerful intention for me in 2023 and every day going forward. And I only think it’s possible for me to live into if I slow down. How about you?
May you trust in the gifts to be found when you move at a slow and steady pace through each precious day.
A Slow Ripening
“Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.”
—Aristotle
Slow Circles of Nature
“Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help.”
—May Sarton
Reflection for the New Year
I am unused, unspotted, without blemish.
I stretch before you 365 days long.
I will present each day in its turn,
a new leaf in the Book of Life for you
to place upon it your imprint.
It remains for you to
make me what you will;
if you write with firm, steady strokes—
believing in yourself and the work
you are here to do, my page will
be a joy to look upon
when the next New Year comes.
Remember each day to fill this book
with wonderful accomplishments and memories.
I am the New Year.
During each hour of the 365 days,
I will give you sixty minutes
that YOU have never known.
Clean and pure, I present them;
it remains for you to fill them
with sixty jeweled seconds of love,
hope, endeavor, patience and
trust in God.
I am the New Year;
I am here; but once past,
I can never be recalled.
Make me your best!
—Author Unknown (many thanks to John Fassnacht for sharing this with us at the last Quiet Pause of 2022)
May all the minutes of 2023 be filled with “love, hope, endeavor, patience and trust in God.”
