“In today’s rush, we all think too much–seek too much— want too much–and forget about the joy of just being.”
– Eckhart Tolle
Summer invites us to slow down. The days are longer. We spend more time outside, linger over meals, take more walks, go on vacation, and make plans with family and friends. There is something about the summer months that reminds us of the joy of slowing down – being less busy.
And as we enter this summer season, I find myself reflecting on the pace of our lives — how often we rush, how full our days can become, how long our to-do lists can be, and how many things we long for but never seem to have time for.
So often, we rush through life because we believe something better is waiting just ahead. We overvalue some future moment and undervalue the present one. We imagine that ease, success, fulfillment, or happiness will be waiting for us at the end of our to-do list.
But of course, our to-do list keeps growing. There is always one more thing to handle, one more message to answer, one more problem to solve, one more goal to reach. And if we are not careful, we can spend our whole life trying to arrive somewhere else, rushing through life — and we miss the life that is actually here in this moment, the only moment we ever really have.
Rushing is not just a behavior. It is a physiological state. When we are rushing, the body often begins to interpret life as urgent. The nervous system can shift into activation — more adrenaline, more tension, more shallow breathing, more vigilance. The shoulders lift. The jaw tightens. The breath shortens. The mind narrows.
And many of us have become so accustomed to this pace that we mistake it for normal or “living fully.” We may even wear busyness as a badge of honor: I’m so busy. I’m so productive. I have so much going on. I must be important.
And of course, sometimes we really do have a lot going on. Life is full. We have responsibilities. People depend on us. There is a lot to do. But there is a difference between living fully and living frantically.
Mindfulness offers us another way. It helps us remember where we are. It helps us arrive in the present moment. It brings us back to our direct experience: this breath, this body, this step, this sound, this person, this moment. Not because the future does not matter. Not because our responsibilities do not matter. But because this moment is the only place where life can actually be touched, felt, and lived fully.
In Buddhism, mindfulness is often described as a form of remembering. We remember to return to the present moment. We remember to return to ourselves. We remember to return to what matters. We remember that this breath matters. This body matters. This person in front of us matters. This moment matters.
We learn to slow down, get less busy, and no longer rush past the life we are already living. We learn to pause long enough to feel the sun on our skin. To taste the food we are eating. To listen when someone is speaking. To notice the sky. To take one full deep breath before moving on to the next thing.
We learn that there is no need to rush forward through life in order to arrive at what really matters. We learn that we are already here.
❤️,
Cheryl