⅞ Time
“The challenge I’m putting before you is called ⅞ time,” I tell the Zoom screen containing the head and torso of the person with whom I’m doing spiritual direction.
“I don’t know what that is,” comes through my speakers.
“I’m not surprised,” I laugh, “I just made it up this week.”
***
Emmett, sits across from me at the vinyl-covered table in the booth of the pizzeria.
Annie is next to him, and Jane is next to me.
It’s Sunday, and we’ve opted, as a family, to go for a late lunch.
Annie won the card game we were playing while we waited for the half pepperoni-half cheese pizza, which has just arrived at our table.
The brown paper napkins Jane has put atop the pie readily soak up more than their weight in oil, rendering them translucent.
We dig in, eat, chat about summer plans, gently tease, and laugh.
I notice I’m eating too fast and, just before I swallow a large, semi-chewed piece, I do that maneuver I’m sure you’ve done from time to time, as well. I use throat muscles in a way I can’t explain to pull a bite back into my mouth so I can chew it better before swallowing.
Why am I rushing so much? There is literally no place I would rather be.
***
Thomas Merton:
“The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence.”
***
I have the power to go as quickly or as slowly as I want.
Don’t I?
Well, at least when I’m aware of myself.
***
It’s 10:57, and I have three minutes before my next Zoom.
I think, “Surely, in 180 seconds, I have enough time to look through my emails and find the one from Paul with the review of my book and copy it to the endorsement folder.”
But I choose not to.
I choose to just join the Zoom early.
Revolutionary.
***
Why do I insist on rocking my stockinged foot back and forth over and over again on the heel of my already-laced shoe without a shoe horn?
Am I in that much of a rush?
Really?
***
Henry David Thoreau:
“It’s not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is—What are we busy about?”
***
⅞ time
Let’s try to not do it all.
Or not do all that we do as fast as we can.
I doubt many of us will be able to just slow down. It’s probably going to take some practice.
I’m going to make it a goal that by Jul 8, 2024, I will have slowed down. (7/8 is July 8, no?)
The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence.
Slow it down.
Eat a little more slowly.
Rush a little less.
Starting now!
💙rB
