Stop the World…

“Pleasure, or slow eating, is about savoring every bite that you take. And, so, that it’s really enjoying the food, really making it a holistic experience.” ~ Lisa Dorfman

I’m sitting on the patio of Starbucks, savoring what I hope will not be the last sunny day of the fall.   I’ve got a book in my lap, but I’m not really reading.  Instead I’m basking in the brightness, watching people go by, slowly sipping my soy chai latte, following a last lingering leaf as it surrenders to the inevitable and makes its dancing, spiraling way to the ground…

Savoring… sssssssaaaaaavooooooooriiiiiiiingggggg…. onomatopoeic – it sounds like what it means….mmmmm

I love days like this – long slow days with no “have-to’s.”  And it took an acting assignment to wake me up to just how much I need them.

It was a simple exercise.  (I’m not even sure that any of us understood what the point was.)  The teacher set a metronome and we had to enter the room, complete a chore, and leave – all to the beat.  We were each given the opportunity to experience three different rhythms and then we compared notes.

I was shocked to discover that I was the only one in the room who preferred the most leisurely pace.  I thought it was both odd and ironic that I should be the one who found slow so pleasurable.  I walked fast; I talked fast; I was always on the go – driving myself harder and further.  And yet it was clear to me on a body level that the pace that allowed me to savor was what felt best.

Over the ensuing years, I have come to understand that it is partially because I can move so quickly and be so driven that I enjoy operating at an unhurried pace.  I like to be forced to slow down, to linger over a task, to really be in my body and in an experience, to enjoy all the various sensations that come when I have enough time to actually notice them.

And today, I’m not alone.  There’s a whole “slow movement” happening – slow meals, slow sex, even slow education – in reaction to the often frenetic, over committed, overly “plugged in” lifestyle that has become the American “norm.”

Research shows that, by slowing down, by actively choosing to do less with more consciousness, we not only lower our stress levels, but our lives take on more meaning.  We have more opportunity to really connect with people we care about -as opposed to the fast food version that is a facebook status update, or a text message limited to 160 characters.  We also have the chance to actually enjoy our activities instead of gobbling them down, swallowing without ever really tasting.  Sure, we do less, but we take greater pleasure.

It’s a radical notion.  It means stepping out of the rat race, letting the “Joneses” speed on ahead.  It means limiting the number of experiences we might have, a notion many of us dislike intensely, fearing that in choosing less we might be missing out on “THE” experience… it’s a risk.

But perhaps in surrendering volume, we gain in relationship, presence, depth, and, ultimately, in Joy.  Maybe, just maybe, we must concede the battle to win the war.

“Develop an appreciation for the present moment. Seize every second of your life and savor it. Value your present moments. Using them up in any self-defeating ways means you’ve lost them forever.” ~Wayne Dyer