Are You Ready to Slow Down and Enjoy Life?
We live in a fast world.
The cars we drive are fast.
The internet we use is fast.
We even expect the service we get at a restaurant to be fast.
As a result, we get caught up in the rush to get places; the rush to buy more and more things online; and the rush to eat quickly and head right out the door. As a result of this frenzy, however, we miss a lot of things. We might miss the connection that we could have made with a coworker in the parking lot. We might miss the chance to find out that a sales clerk was one of our former students. We might even miss the chance to hear the stories of our children’s days at school.
In a world where so many people seem to be in a hurry, have you ever decided to slow yourself down, reconnect with old friends, and stop to SMELL THE ROSES?
- Send your friend birthday flowers and when she calls to tell you that she received them take the opportunity to enjoy a long chat.
- Make a loaf of banana bread and deliver it to the elderly lady at church who does not get as much company as she would like.
- Enjoy a long walk around the lake with your daughter, making sure that you leave your cell phone at home and avoid the temptation to check emails.
- Leave the television off and instead enjoy a morning cup of coffee on the deck while you listen to the birds instead of the 24/7 news cycle.
- Leave work early, not so you can beat the rush, but so you can stop by the florist and purchase some fresh flowers for the kitchen.
- Take the time to sit and right a letter to your grandmother.
- Help your neighbor pick up the newspapers that blew down the street on trash day.
- Enjoy the silence of being in he house alone.
- Research shows depictions of the arrangements of flower bouquets dating back to as early as 2500 BC. Shouldn’t they be a part of your home as well?
- Online purchases are convenient, but there are few things that can replace the fun of picking up flowers for your spouse and bringing them home yourself, whether they are birthday flowers or a simple decoration for the dining room table.
- Sunrises and sunsets are daily reminders of the beauty we can see in this world if we slow our pace and relax.
- Every time that you meet a coworker on the way in from the parking lot is a chance to connect.
- Seeing the world through the eyes of a child can help you realize the beauty of your surroundings.
Whether you make the decision to send birthday flowers instead of an email greeting or to cook a meal with your teenagers instead of dining at the latest popular restaurant, life gives us many opportunities to stop and SMELL THE ROSES if we can force our selves to forget about the fast pace of our normal routines.