Achtung

Absorbed in a highly relevant magazine yesterday, I stumbled across a quote that I thought needed repeating:

'Slow is beautiful.'

How poignant.

It comes off the back of a global movement which is progressing in not only essential things like food, but in thinking, acting, absorbing. Without delving into philosophical thought, our lives average 75-85 years (in the Western world), of which I'd say 70% of those years are functional. Why do we use this time running to our next appointment, role, relationship only for them to be a past memory a second later?

I think related to this issue is a degree of passion, and how much we have for the lives we lead. Are we moving so fast to forget, to create our next issue or ideal? Somebody seemingly whispered into my ear during my teen years that the secret to happiness was to do what you love; if we are creating our lives around our passion, I think that surely needs to be a focus, therefore celebrated and shared.

Putting things into perspective is something I love to do every now and then. Whenever I feel hard done by and create a self pity hole, it seems something is put in front of me to remind me how lucky I actually am. It happened today on a crowded street in London- a small little girl in pigtails, clutching her father's hand. Her little face, surrounded by her blondness, was covered in burns. My heart internally gulped, and I wondered in the flash that we passed each other, if she knew how she made people re-evaluate by the injustice of her predicament?

The little girl made me slow down.

My view is that the deciding principle of slowing down is to reflect, resign and if you're lucky, re-new.