“Slow down.
It’s been a long time comin’ round and smoothing out the edges,
And slowing down, and listening.
What is important? What is your focus?
Don’t you go and stumble now.
Are you listening?”

Nahko

Slow down.

Be still.

How simple it sounds! And yet when I try to apply these simple directives, I find myself struggling against the habitual behaviors of my busy mind. Ever-rolling commentary spills at a rapid clip inside my head, bouncing from one topic to the next as it takes me along for the ride. I’m not in the driver’s seat, but I need to be.

My body is consumed by nervous energy. I fidget and squirm as it craves release. Stillness feels like shackles, and I buck against the restraint.

But stillness is not my enemy, and this ever-busy state of being is not freedom. If I slow down and tune in, I realize that it’s my body speaking to me. I want so desperately to do, to create, to live, to be… but in order to do any of those things, I need to stop my mind and body from careening without course.

A racing mind is like a racing horse. I am not in control unless my hands are on reins. The things I desire to accomplish require a focused mind.

So I must be patient.

I must slow down.

I must be still.

I’ll find myself again in the stillness and, with it, the ability to express myself and create the things I yearn to create.