"The purpose of life is to live it" - Eleanor Roosevelt
I would like to add a piece to this beautiful quote of Eleanor Roosevelt. The purpose of life is to live it -not faster - but in a deeper, richer and more meaningful way.
In that way 'Accelerate by slowing down' is not about living the fast life but about living a life that is meaningful to you. It's about living a life that gives you fulfillment and where you spend your time and energy on what is really important.
There is more to life than simply increasing its speed. We now live in a world obsessed with speed, with doing everything faster, with cramming more and more into less and less time. Every moment of the day feels like a race against the clock.
There’s no point in running the rat race, because even if you win it, you will still be a rat.
We’re so caught up in the culture of speed that we almost fail to notice the toll it takes on every aspect of our lives: on our relationships, our health, our work, our food, and even the environment.
Sometimes it takes a wake-up call to alert us to the fact that we’re hurrying through our lives, instead of actually living them; that we’re living the fast life, instead of the good life.
For many people, that wake-up call takes the form of an illness. You know, a burnout, where eventually the body says, “Stop! I can’t take it anymore".
For others is might be a relationship that breaks down, because they didn't have / take the time to be with the other person and to listen to them.
Why is it so hard to slow down?
I think there are various reasons. One of the reasons is that speed is fun. Speed is sexy. The adrenaline rush is hard to give up.
But only when you are completely present, then your full energy and attention is at your service, allowing you to be more creative, more spontaneous and to be better guided by your intuition.
With this level of connection, you are able to access your true potential, connecting with others, identifying new opportunities and experiencing breakthroughs in perspective.
This is how you accelerate by slowing down.