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Real Answers™
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Copyright: ©2010 Linda Downing
660 words

SLOW DOWN TO SPEED UP

By: Linda Downing

Many of us feel used by time, powerless to choose how we spend such a precious commodity. With so much to do and so much rushing about, it is hard to believe that becoming more productive and less stressed demands we slow down.

Spending 35 years in prison for a crime he did not commit forced James Bain of Lake Wales, FL, to pause. Genetic evidence, unavailable when he was convicted of rape in 1974, freed him on December 17, 2009. Asked how he kept a positive outlook, Bain said: “By watching ‘Titanic.’” That thought quieted even the frenzied reporters as Bain, a 54-year-old man without guile or grudge, exited the Polk County Courthouse.

“If I could turn back time,” sings Cher. We cannot, but James Bain shows us how to turn life around: Acknowledge we are not sunk, not dead. We are alive. Being fully present brings time into proper perspective.           

Getting ahead of ourselves can produce worry and a kind of paralysis. In March 2010 Harvard’s Institute of Politics released findings of a new poll among 18 to 29-year-olds. They are suffering a “deep sense of gloom,” blaming their mood on the slow economic recovery, increasingly pessimistic about achieving the American dream. Maybe, they must learn that “slow” does not mean “never.”  

Sometimes dreams need an attitude adjustment, especially if they prevent us from living life in the now. After his profound “Titanic” observation, Bain further wowed the crowd as he held a cell phone for the first time and listened to his mother’s voice: “Hurry up and come home.” Then came a question about his future plans. Other than expressing desire to better his reading and writing skills, he said it would be day-to-day, led “by the Lord,” and, on this day, “the main thing is to get back to my mom.”

It can be difficult to decipher the “main thing” under the best of circumstances, much less the worst. No wonder verse 12 of Psalm 90 stands out, marked as “a prayer of Moses, the man of God”: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (NIV). Perhaps that was the gift of the biblical tribe of Issachar, “who understood the times” (1 Chronicles 12:32 NIV).       

Almost every article on stress refers to the pressure of time in some way. Sheldon Cohen, a psychologist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, says: “Stress is the perception that you are facing demands that exceed your ability to cope.” That perception perks our tired complaint that there just isn’t enough time in the day. Life coach Mary Lowry wrote in Good Housekeeping’s “Words To Chill By” (Aug. 2009): “Put one foot in front of the other, and keep moving forward.”

But, we add, don’t rush. Remember the story of “The Tortoise and the Hare”? Gentle plodding prevents us from thinking it’s all up to us, all about our own speed and ability. Gandhi said: “There is more to life than increasing its speed.” He was the kind of man who walked slowly, hands clasped behind his back, thinking. He traveled far, doing his own version of “power walking.”

Research indicates that allowing time constraints to stress us can speed the aging process. Most of us are in no hurry for that. What we really desire is quality of life, but too many allow quantity—of goals, of achievements, of ground covered—to define it.

An American preacher, author, magazine editor, Bible conference speaker, and spiritual mentor, A. W. Tozer, wrote in an editorial in 1950 for Alliance Weekly: “It will cost something to walk slow in the parade of the ages, while excited men of time rush about confusing motion with progress.” Something else Tozer noted: “God never hurries.” 

Linda Downing, a contributor to the Amy Internet Syndicate, writes “Side-By-Side: Seeking Simple Truth,” a weekly column for Highlands Today of The Tampa Tribune.  

"Real Answers™" furnished courtesy of The Amy Foundation Internet Syndicate. To contact the author or The Amy Foundation, write or E-mail to: P. O. Box 16091, Lansing, MI 48901-6091; amyfoundtn@aol.com

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