On Slowing Down
Several weeks ago, in an online poetry “Playshop” with Phyllis Cole-Dia at The Raft, one of the participants shared a link to a quote and article by Bayo Akomolafe— offering timely wisdom and guidance. I’ve been pondering his words, since I read them. When I feel rushed and the pace is too fast, I click on this essay to remind myself…
“The times are urgent; let us slow down.”
What a challenge!
What an invitation!
What grace!
Slowing down is not my natural default setting. Mr. Roger’s words, “Take your time and do it right,” have been a mantra and reminder for me…forever.
(Click on the picture…we all need some Mr. Rogers…)
Bayo Akomolafe and Fred Rogers’ wisdom to slow down and look around might be the universal wisdom we all need in the urgent times we live, move, breathe, and have our being.
Sometimes (most of the time?!) I forget that not reacting, not taking the bait, waiting, and letting information settle before responding IS an option. I don’t have to feel rushed to offer an unconsidered reply. Problems are not solved by the energy that created them. Problems are solved by a new, vibrant, thoughtful energy, and that emerges with thoughtful time.
“...in ‘hurrying up’ all the time, we often lose sight of the abundance of resources that might help us meet today’s most challenging crises…the call to slow down works to bring us face to face with the invisible, the hidden, the unremarkable, the yet-to-be-resolved. Sometimes, what is the appropriate thing to do is not the effective thing to do.”
Bayo Akomolafe in A Slower Urgency
Dr. Akomolafe is urging a slower, intentional response to the meta-needs and challenges we face, including climate change, political disruptions, and economic disparities. I agree, and I wonder how these words are also true in our everyday, ordinary lives as we enter the dark season of winter, the busy holiday season, and Advent, the season of waiting in the Church calendar leading up to Christmas.
The days are short.
The trees are bare.
The world is browning, slowing, and freezing–pausing.
And, our calendars will soon be filled with holiday events, activities, and expectations.
This paradox is raising questions for me, like: what does the invitation to slow down mean in my living, breathing, walking around, creating, and parenting life?
I hope you will take a few minutes to read Bayo Akomolafe’s essay A Slower Urgency I’m sharing a few lines, with the question I’m pondering.
“Slowing down is thus about lingering in the places we are not used to. Seeking out new questions. Becoming accountable to more than what rests on the surface. Seeking roots. Slowing down is taking care of ghots, hugging monsters, sharing silence, embracing the weird.”
Bayo Akomolafe in A Slower Urgency
What does it mean to linger, and how can I practice lingering?
When I look out my window and take walks, I notice every growing thing has slowed down. What guidance and lessons are the leafless trees, brown grass, and frozen ground offering my soul?
How do I live in harmony with the shorter days, the darkness that comes so early, and the light that is less intense?
“Urgent times…call for quiet; for rest and respite. Instead of ramping up, we must surrender, and wait to witness the transformative potential of stillness.
The first step toward emancipatory wholeness is finding comfort in the unknowable, and embracing bewilderment and wonder.”
Bayo Akomolafe in On Slowing Down In Urgent Times
Where am I tempted to “ramp up” when I might need to surrender?
Is there a place in my life where I can be a witness to “the transformative potential of stillness?”
Where am I being invited to embrace bewilderment and wonder?
When was the last time I felt bewilderment? Was it a positive or negative experience? How can I work with bewilderment?
Read Bayo Akomolafe’s essay A Slower Urgency
This is another essay/author he references, that too is filled with provocative invitations to engage differently with the challenges of our times.
What invitation do you find in one (or both) of these essays?
I’m sharing a few quotes from Wendell Berry in The World Ending Fire: The Essential Wendell Berry. Read each quote slowly, notice if a word or phrase sparkles for you. Let it be a compansion for you throughout the week.
“Wendell Berry’s formula for a good life and a good community is simple and pleasingly unoriginal. Slow down. Pay attention. Do good work. Love your neighbours. Love your place. Stay in your place. Settle for less, enjoy it more.”
― Wendell Berry, The World-Ending Fire: The Essential Wendell Berry
“But the safe competence of human work extends no further, ever, than our ability to think and love at the same time.”
― Wendell Berry, The World-Ending Fire: The Essential Wendell Berry
“We need to confront honestly the issue of scale. Bigness has a charm and a drama that are seductive, especially to politicians and financiers; but bigness promotes greed, indifference, and damage, and often bigness is not necessary. You may need a large corporation to run an airline or to manufacture cars, but you don’t need a large corporation to raise a chicken or a hog. You don’t need a large corporation to process local food or local timber and market it locally.”
― Wendell Berry, The World-Ending Fire: The Essential Wendell Berry
I wholeheartedly agree that slowing down, and scaling down, would change the world and reshape humanity. It's sad this idea would be considered radical yet more and more people are realizing the importance of it. Thanks for this excellent reminder Amy and for sharing Bayo's amazing work.
What a beautiful thought!